The Runaways
by kanpekinashi
Summary: Chung didn't want it to end up like this. -"I HATE YOU, CHUNG!"- The war had torn him apart from everyone. -"Great, because I want you to come to war with me,"- A dead Father. -"Don't you think your old man can protect you?"- A soulless Mother. -"I just want my son back right now,"- A cold friend. -"Leave me alone,"- All because of one person. ChungxEve
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: (Based off of The Lion King)**

Chung didn't want it to end up like this. -"I HATE YOU, CHUNG!"- The war had torn him apart from everyone. -"Great, because I want you to come to war with me,"- A dead Father. -"Don't you think your old man can protect you?"- A soulless Mother. -"I just want my son back right now,"- A cold friend. -"Leave me alone,"- All because of one person.

**A/N: Hellooo! Yay new fanfic :D! I can only go on Elsword on the weekends, so this will give me something to do. We're planning on making this kind of long, unlike our other stories. YEEEEEE DEDICATION! So, if you've read the summary, we're basing this off of the Lion King, except that everyone is human. This is also a major AU. Rena isn't an Elf, and Eve isn't a Nasod. Raven is Chung's uncle. Hamel is really snooty and doesn't like the other regions. Raven's friends (Alex and Seris) never died. Aisha and Ara are older than they should be and Aisha is a nun. Yay AUs~**

**Also, there aren't going to be any OCs here, but we are including NPCs. Anyway, here's the character info: (Age thingy: The age that is mentioned is during the time that Chung is 11)**

**Elsword: Magic Knight, Age 13**

**Aisha: Elemental Master, Age 34**

**Rena: Grand Archer, Age 34**

**Raven: Veteran Commander, Age 27**

**Eve: Base, Age 11**

**Chung: Base, Age 11**

**Ara: Sakra Devanam, Age 34**

**Elesis: Pyro Knight, Age 16**

**-Zenya**

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**Chapter 1**

The people of Hamel held their breath as they awaited the news. They had heard that Queen Rena of Hamel was in labour, about to give birth to the future king or queen of Hamel. What would they name the baby? What would the baby look like? Would it be a boy or a girl? Questions flooded the minds of the Hamel citizens. After all, royalty didn't get born often.

The only person, in fact, that _didn't_ seem excited about the new royal baby was Raven. Raven was a Prince and brother of the current king. Raven had always hated his brother. He was a king, successful, General of the Hamel army, married, and now they were going to have a child?! If it was a boy that would mean Raven would lose his spot to the throne because of his stupid brother once again! Why was life so unfair for _him?_

"Its okay, Raven." Raven's friend, Alex, patted him on the shoulder. "If they indeed do have a son, it'll be alright. You remember the plan, don't you?" Raven smiled at his friend.

"You're right. I'll only have to deal with a few years of pain, and then…" Raven chuckled at the mere idea of it. Even if his _brother_ did have a son, that wouldn't stop Raven from being the King.

XXX

Rena grumbled as she was led to her carriage by her husband, baby boy in arms. Although she had just given birth to her first child, her anger with Jun Seiker conquered her happiness.

"You have to understand! The Demons could come any time!" Jun Seiker, King of Hamel, tried to reason with his Queen, Rena.

"Save it, if you think the army is more important than your only son-"

"I'm the _General_!"

"-then you can go deal with that. Now I'm going to go home and be a _real_ parent to this child," Rena snapped, smiling at the baby in her arms. She then stepped into her green carriage and slamming the door. Rena understood the importance of protecting Hamel, but couldn't Jun ever take any time off, especially for his child? Back when they were young, Rena remembering all the fun times Jun and she shared. But now that he was the General of the Hamel army, they rarely did anything together. She was lucky he was even there when their son was born.

Cheers and screams of joy echoed throughout the streets of Hamel as everyone saw the royal carriage riding along town. Even complete strangers cared about her son more than her husband. In spite of herself, Rena smiled, pushing away the thoughts of Jun, and waved to her subjects.

When Rena arrived at her castle, she found Noel, Jun's best friend, waiting for her. She sighed. Did Jun send him? _Probably_, she thought.

"Heey Rena~" Noel sang. Noel was always "quite the hippy", Rena would say. He had white hair, despite his young age of 24, and wore white robes, kind of like the ones Romans wore back in the day. He always carried around a ukulele and was constantly smoking weed.

"What do _you_ want?" Rena groaned. The baby started to sniffle, as if it was about to cry. Rena quickly cooed and started to rock him back and forth, causing various giggles to erupt from the child.

"Just seeing how you're doing! So, the baby was born? Is it a boy?" Rena hesitantly nodded her head. "What will you name it?

"Do not worry, I'll think of something." Rena ensured, running up to her room. Her room had green walls and a ceiling 30 feet high, with a diamond chandelier hanging at the top. She had installed a blue crib at the corner of her room a few days ago. It was quite a large crib, with a teddy bear that she had made herself inside, as well as a mobile and canopy hanging over top. She carefully placed the giggling baby inside. She leaned on the rim of the crib, thinking. What name would fit a future king? Suddenly, as Rena spotted the baby cuddle the teddy bear in the crib, she immediately knew. She picked up her child, and said, ever so quietly, "You will now be known as Prince Chung Seiker of Hamel."

XXX

Aisha knelt on the pedestal, her hands together in a praying position. This church was her most prized possession. She had statues of various saints around the room, as well as Jesus on the cross at the front of the church. Every Sunday, she held mass here. She was also best friends with Queen Rena, which was why she wasn't surprised when Rena came bursting through the doors of her church, only a week after her son had been born.

"Aisha." Rena smiled, approaching her childhood friend with Chung in her arms.

"Congratulations on the child, Rena." Aisha returned the smile.

"Thanks." Rena nodded. "Jun has been away from home more than usual. In fact, he's only been home once since Chung was born." Aisha grimaced. She had known Jun since she was young. It wasn't like him to ignore his child, and doing so was going against everything she stood for. "I fear they may be something wrong. Aisha, my friend, would you please-?"

"Of course." Aisha smiled. It was the least she could do for her friend, after all.

"Thank you." Rena bowed. "I don't know what would happen if Chung got hurt. As my first and only son, I would wish for him to be protected."

"My magic isn't strong enough to last a lifetime." Aisha warned. "But I trust by the time it wears off, he'll be able to protect himself." Noticing the worried look in Rena's eyes, Aisha smiled. "Don't worry. You and Jun are both excellent at combat; you'll teach him well."

"How long do you think the spell will last?" Rena asked.

"By the time he's a teenager, it will wear off completely." Upon hearing this, Rena almost fainted. Her child was only safe until he was 13?! But she didn't complain. She knew that even Aisha had her limits. The Grand Archer nodded, and handed the child over to Aisha. Aisha examined him. Beautiful pure blue eyes stared up her as the child struggled to find out who she was. He was already growing bits of blonde hair and he was wrapped up in a white robe. He faintly reminded her of Noel. She couldn't help but smile as Chung pulled the purplenette's pig tails.

Aisha placed Chung on the ground and drew her staff. Rena stood by hopefully at Aisha's side. Aisha concentrated all of her pure energy. She took in the lovely atmosphere and love Rena had for her child. She focused all of her talent and elemental magic as her staff began to glow. Brighter and brighter the staff grew with blue light, and Aisha felt herself grow weaker and weaker. Finally, when her powers were at its limits, she passed all the strength and energy from her wand onto Chung. Rena gasped as a bright blue light swallowed the room momentarily.

Aisha felt drained. She didn't have any more power left in her. As she began to feel drowsy, she quickly muttered, "That's done." The last thing she heard was Rena stammering several "Thank you!"'s and the hurried footsteps as she dashed out of the church.

When Rena arrived home, she did a little happy dance. How thankful she was that Aisha had blessed her own baby and casted a protection charm upon him. For Rena knew that there would be tough times ahead. She knew that this would be the most difficult time for Hamel, and her family. She only wished that Chung could have been born at a different era.

XXX

A few months had passed since then, and Rena had grown more cheerful. After a heated argument between Rena and Jun, Jun had appeared home more often. He had taught Chung how to walk, and Rena couldn't be more proud. He had even started to murmur little words like "Mama", "Dada", "Noey" (Noel was at tears when he heard this. "What an honour!" he had exclaimed), and "Boom!" Rena only partially minded it when Jun announced that Noel would be living with them. After all, Noel and the baby got along as well as Michelangelo and Raphael.

One day, while the King of Hamel was at work, Rena took Chung outside.

"We're going to meet a new friend."Rena told Chung, who clapped his hands together in response. He hadn't quite mastered walking yet. Only little wobbles and crawls. When they reached the top of a hillside, they waited. Chung sat blankly in the long, green glass. His hair was longer now. The blonde hair, inherited from his mother, was a bit spiky, and had brown tips. The blue eyes, inherited from his father, shone with curiosity. Today, the royal Prince was wearing white robes, the same ones he wore when Aisha cast the protection spell on him. "It's a special occasion!" Rena had told him. Of course, Chung had no idea of what had happened then. He barely had any idea what was happening now.

Suddenly, from the distance, Rena spotted another childhood friend; Ara, accompanied with her child.

"Greetings, Queen Rena' the Sakra Devanam bowed. Rena giggled at the formality. When she and Jun had first got married, Ara had always teased her on being "royal". Rena sighed in contempt at seeing her friend again. Rena and Ara had been friends for so long; they forgot how it even started. Rena remembered learning to ride a bike with Ara, going to camp together, training together, attending high school together, going to dances together, and eventually, getting married. Along with Ara and Rena were Aisha, Jun and Noel. While Jun and Noel weren't that great friends with the girls, all five of them formed the perfect circle of friends. And now, it was going to happen all over again. Their kids would become friends as well, then their kids kids, and so on. Their friendship would last generations.

"Hi Ara." Rena greeted, smiling. As Ara placed her child down next to Chung, Rena immediately wrapped the brunette into a hug. _It's been awhile_, Rena thought.

"How's Chung?" Ara asked, once the two friends broke away. Rena glanced at Chung and Eve, Ara's child, playfully slapping each other.

"He's wonderful." Rena laughed. "Jun wants him to learn combat soon. I do not think it's a very good idea, though."

"Why not?" Ara asked. "Remember, he should be fairly skilled in combat by the time he reaches 13."

"I don't think a baby running around wielding a canon would be such a good idea." Ara laughed, "Besides, he isn't even 1 year old yet! We have plenty of time." Rena protested.

Ara switched to a serious expression. "If you keep saying that, you'll regret it when it's too late." Ara warned. Rena sighed.

"Yes, I know. But for some reason, I have a feeling training plus the spell won't be enough to protect him." Rena frowned. Though Chung was playing peacefully with his new friend, Eve (Rena didn't understand at all why she had silver hair, when her mother had dark brown), now, Rena feared greatly for his future.

XXX

Raven groaned as he entered an abandoned alleyway in Bethma. He had come all this way from Hamel, only to be greeted by nothing.

"Sorry we're late, Sir." Alex cried, Ran and Seris following suit. Raven smirked. Finally, they were here!

"Took you long enough. You know how many boats I had to take to get here?" Raven growled.

"It took you only 1." Ran stated. Raven face palmed.

"Whatever. Anyway, you remember the baby my brother had?" Raven said. Since his friends lived all the way in Bethma, and they weren't allowed to even _visit_ Hamel, they didn't receive any news coming from Hamel, so Raven had to deliver it. His friends nodded. "Turns out the baby is a _boy_, which means more trouble for us." Several groans erupted from his friends. "Enough! You need to take this seriously!" Raven snapped. How dare his team, his _friends_, the ones he grew up with, act so childish!

"Does this mean we're going to execute the plan?" Seris asked.

Raven smirked. "Yes, it does. But it'll take years of preparation. That's why I'm telling you this now. And when we _do_ execute the plan, my brother won't know what hit him. One way or another, I _will_ have my revenge."

* * *

**A/N: That's it! It's a bit short compared to the chapters I usually write, but since it's only a first chapter, I think things will be fine. As you can see, we'll be adding some original parts here and there to this story, so it's not ****_that_**** predictable. Ohhh, I'm so excited! ~**

**Noel: Yay! I'm finally in a story~**

**Elsword: Good for you *rolls eyes*. Now where am ****_I_**** in this?**

**Zenya: You won't appear until a couple of chapters, as well as Elesis.**

**Raven: Why am I so mean? D:**

**Zenya: Technically, you haven't done anything mean yet.**

**Aisha: Why am I a nun? ;~;**

**Zenya: Because you are! Now stahp with all the stupid questions and LET THE GENIUS PLOT UNFOLD~**

**Chung: I don't get it. If the story is about me, why am I a baby?**

**Zenya: Because you age over time, DUH!**

**Eve: A-ara is my mother?!**

**Ara: That's so wrong on so many levels…Who's the father, anyway?**

**Zenya: There is none :D**

**Everyone else: o.o**

**So please, tell us what you think! (Kayuki lost her laptop privileges temporarily, so that's why I'm writing the first chapter, if anyone is wondering). R&R PLEASE!**

**-Zenya**


	2. Chapter 2

**YAAAAYYY! REVIEWS! asdfghjkl thanks to xSnowflakesx and sOdAPopgrl133 for reviewing! Sorry it took a while, I was trying to write Chapter 9 of Into It 3, but even though I rewrote it twice over a time period of 2 days, it still turned out...derpy. Let's just hope that doesn't apply for this chapter as well, but I'm all psyched about this thing because when there was only a chapter up we got 7 follows and 6 favourites and 2 reviews! SQUEEAA!**

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**.::Review replies::. (yeah, we gonna do this.)**

**xSnowflakesx: That's true, Glaive would be most likely to be the father. We didn't think that having an unknown father in the story would be so interesting. Actually, we only made Ara the mother because she was the only other member of the Elgang left that didn't have a part or something. But, dang, your brain works like a detective's. O.O mind=blown. and thanks!**

**sOdAPopgrl133: Um, not sure what you mean by 'nonsensical' but, thanks? We can be logical sounding...idk XD yeah, it's really boring when everyone's the same age =_= *nods* we're glad you enjoy it! we'll see about Jun's death... *creeps away***

* * *

**Chapter 2**

11 years later...

"Uncle Noel!" The blond boy cried, trying to keep up with the skipping man. "Slow down!"

"And this is the weapon shop – a dude named Horatio works here," Noel sang, playing a few out-of-tune chords on his ukulele. Chung and Eve finally caught up to Noel. "And I'm not your uncle, but you can still call me that anyway," Noel hummed.

"Stop…running so fast!" The silver haired girl panted. "Our…legs aren't…as long as…yours,"

"Yeah," Chung said, out of breath, "do you _want_ us to get lost in the streets?"

"Alright, alright – just pay attention to where I'm going," Noel said, walking off to the small hut across the street. Chung and Eve quickly scrambled across the street, following Noel. "This," Noel said, gesturing to the small hut, "is where Lucy is for now. She's travels around Elrios a lot, if you want some sort of rare accessory, Lucy's the girl to go to," Noel then skipped off, down the street.

"Uncle Noel!" Chung whined, his legs giving out. "We've been chasing him around for **hours**, Eve, I'm tired!"

"Tell me about it," Eve groaned, massaging her knee joints. "I'm beat,"

"Are you two coming?" Noel called.

"Just give us a moment to catch our breath!" Chung said, somewhat irritated.

"I'll be hanging with Stuck-Up Mama's Boy~" Noel sang, already running off.

"Wait–" Chung called, but Noel was already gone in the sea of people. He groaned. He's only been out of the castle three times, including this time, and all three times were when his Uncle Noel had smuggled him out by putting him in a potato sack. It wasn't fun, everytime he ended up getting separated from Noel and helplessly lost.

"Who's 'Stuck-Up Mama's Boy'?" Eve whispered.

"I think he's referring to Rod Ross," Chung whispered back. Eve had a puzzled look on her face. "You know, that guy that just stands there, basking in his self-glory, but no one knows a thing about him (1)."

"Oh," Eve replied, trying to remember if she ever passed this Rod Ross guy. Before Eve had a chance to think, a familiar tune filled her ears. However, this tune was completely foreign to Chung. All the kids on the streets froze with a giddy look on their faces. They squealed and ran towards the approaching white vehicle, which the tune was emitting from. Eve looked excited, but Chung was just plain confused. Why were the children so excited to get over to a _vehicle_? If a soldier came up to them in a tank, they wouldn't be all giddy and excited to get the tank.

"What are they so excited for?" Chung asked. Eve suppressed her laughter.

"Right, I forgot," Eve murmured, cracking a smile. "This is only your third time out of the castle. You've never seen an ice cream truck (2),"

"An ice ka – _what_?"

"An _ice cream truck_, there's this person in the truck that gives us ice cream and apparently we have to pay," Eve explained as a man zipped past them.

"ICE CREAM TRUCK!" Noel squealed, running to the truck with open arms, but just as Noel reached the truck it started off in the other direction. Noel sprinted after the truck, completely forgetting about Chung and Eve.

Eve stifled a laugh. "Noel knows what it is –" Eve suddenly paled, realizing something. Chung realized the same thought. "Er…we can get around town by ourselves, right?"

"Sure, you've done tons of errands for your mother, you'd know your way around," Chung said, "right?"

"Yeah…but not this isn't Denka's shop," Eve murmured.

"We're screwed," Chung muttered.

"We should start trying to find our way back to the castle if we want to get to some sort of shelter by sundown," Eve said.

"But, why the castle, though?" Chung asked.

"Because it's huge and more noticeable than a common Hamel household," Eve retorted, crossing her arms. "Now, let's go, already,"

XXX

"Chung," Eve said. Chung gave his Destroyer a tug, pulling it forward.

"Y-yeah," He replied.

"Why do you keep dragging that huge cannon around everywhere you go?"

"Well," Chung said, pulling his Destroyer again. "My father hasn't been home much recently, and my mother has been rather disappointed. I lug this thing around, even though I don't really know how to use it (3), because I don't want to be another person to disappoint my mother,"

"Oh, that's sweet of you," Eve said. Chung's face was changing colours from all the effort he put in trying to move his Destroyer.

"Eve, do you mind helping me?" Eve walked behind the Destroyer and pushed it while Chung pulled. When they managed to move it, the Destroyer's metal scrapped against the concrete sidewalk, creating a weird screeching noise. Chung tugged on it again, but he bumped into someone on the sidewalk. Chung turned around and instantly apologized. "Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going," Chung looked up and saw a man towering over him. He had long, dark hair tied into a pony-tail with a streak of red standing out in his black hair. Chung noticed that he wore a lot of black clothing. He was also aware of the fact that this man was equipped with many sharp weapons like a gauntlet (4).

The man's gold eyes had a cold and hateful look in them, it made Chung somewhat uncomfortable. For a moment he was actually convinced that the man was going to rip his head off, but then, his mood suddenly change. He smiled warmly at Chung (5).

"Hello, Chung," He said. "It's nice to finally meet you, but it's rather coincidental meeting you out here in town," The man extended his hand, the one that wasn't wearing a gauntlet.

"Oh, er, um, i-it's nice to meet you, sir," Chung stammered, hastily, shaking the man's hand. Chung could hear Eve suppressing her giggles. "Hey, you should meet my friend, here," Chung grabbed Eve by the shoulders and shoved her out from behind him. Eve was unsure of what to do. Chung nudged her arm.

"Uh…hi, I'm Chung's friend, Eve," Eve introduced, awkwardly.

"I don't mean to be rude, but who are you, sir?" Chung asked.

"Oh, yes. Yes, yes, we haven't met before so, naturally, you wouldn't know who I am," The man said. "I'm Raven, your uncle," Before Chung had time to process the words they went flying out of his mouth.

"I have an _uncle_?" Chung blurt, he shook his head rapidly. "Er…um…what I _meant_ to say was; I was never told I had an uncle," Chung corrected himself, sheepishly.

"Well, Jun _has_ been working a lot lately so, I assume he didn't tell you about me," Raven said. "Has Jun toured you of Hamel yet? Being _future king_ you should know your kingdom well," When Raven said 'future king' he sounded off, like he disliked the word or something.

"Not really, but Uncle Noel smuggles me out sometimes and tours me, in fact we were actually on one right now, but then Uncle Noel saw an ice cream truck and left us." Chung explained. "We're kind of lost. Could you direct us back to the castle, sir?"

"Call me Uncle Raven, or whatever," Raven said, "but wouldn't you like to explore Hamel a bit more?" Raven suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Eve exclaimed.

"But weren't you the one who said we should find our way back to the castle soon –" Chung didn't get to finish his sentence since Eve had clamped her hand over his mouth.

"Yeah, but he sounds like he knows somewhere interesting," Eve whispered, excitedly.

"How would you kids feel like exploring this off-limits site?" Raven asked, crouching down to Chung and Eve's height. Chung really wanted to get home before the demons begin roaming, but he didn't get a chance to decline.

"Tell us which way," Eve blurt.

XXX

"You kids see that building over there?" Raven asked, pointing into the large, temple-like building. Chung squinted and he could see that the building was emitting a strange blue light.

"Yeah," Chung and Eve murmured in unison.

"That's the place," Raven said, walking over to a pile of rubble. "Come," Chung and Eve climbed over the tall pile of rubble with difficulty since they kept slipping, especially Chung since he had to drag his Destroyer up with him.

Behind the pile of rubble was an unstable rope bridge. Quite a few boards were missing from the bridge and any missteps could send you plummeting 40 feet into the freezing ocean filled with sharp rocks and possibly demons.

"People don't use this route much anymore because of how unstable the rope bridge _looks_." Raven said. _That's because it _is_ unstable,_ Chung thought. "It's not as stable as it was before, but if you're careful you'll get across," Raven turned and looked at Chung. "How about you go first, Chung?" Chung laughed nervously.

"S-sure," Chung stuttered. _I'll just fall and die in the process._ Then an idea popped into his head. "I'm a genius," He murmured.

"How?" Eve asked, utterly confused.

"Watch and learn my friend," Chung saddled his cannon and searched his Destroyer for a trigger. His hand slid over a hook-like thing and it sent him flying across the bridge. "I found the trigger!" Chung shouted as the Destroyer propelled him across at a breakneck pace. Chung couldn't really see anything because the wind made his eyes sting so he shut his eyes tightly.

"Chung, look out!" He heard Eve shout. Chung pried his eyes open and he smacked right into a tree. When Chung and the Destroyer collided into the tree, it somehow deactivated the Destroyer. Chung sat up on the ground, feeling his face for his nose. "You okay?" Eve called. Chung felt a bump between his eyes, indicating his nose was still there.

"Yeah, I'm good," Chung replied. Eve heard someone mutter something, but there wasn't anyone but Chung's Uncle Raven and her. Raven looked as if he were about to strangle someone, so, naturally, Eve just quickly crossed the bridge. She was about to reach the other end of the bridge, but suddenly the ropes securing the bridge snapped. A shriek escaped her mouth.

"Eve!" Chung shouted. He jumped, hoping to grab her hand before she fell, but her wrist slipped out of his grasp. Eve clung onto one of the cut ropes and tried to climb up the bridge, but there were missing boards beneath her feet so she couldn't climb.

"Chung!" Eve shouted. Chung's head peeked over the ledge and he smiled at the sight of her.

"You're alive!" Chung exclaimed.

"Yes, now if you don't help me up soon, I won't be. Instead, I'll be falling to my death." Eve said. Chung extended his hand and Eve grabbed his hand. Chung pulled Eve up. Halfway up, Eve started climbing the bridge since she wanted to get onto solid ground as quick as possible.

With one last tug, Eve crawled onto the cliff and Chung was lying on the ground nearby, exhausted.

"Next time, we'll both ride my cannon," Chung said, in between pants. Eve collapsed onto the ground next to Chung, breathing heavily. Then a thought occurred to her.

"Chung," Eve said, still panting. "What about your uncle?"

"Oh, right!" Chung blurt, instantly sitting up, propping himself up with his arms. "Uncle Raven, you alright over there?" Chung called.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll just stay here and do…stuff while you guys explore," Raven called back. Chung turned to Eve.

"Well, you heard the guy; let's go," Chung said, helping her up.

XXX

"Whoa," Eve whispered, awed. Chung just shrugged.

"Its got lots of lights and its pillars pour out water, but if you take away the lights and water, it's almost the same as the castle, but more temple-like." Chung said, looking around. The place Raven referred to as an 'off-limits site' was rather pretty. The 'ceiling' of the building was actually just the roof of a cavern. The building had many pillars supporting the building up. The pillars were made of a sort of purple stone and there were intricate designs on them. From the sides of the pillars, water poured out – kind of like a waterfall. The floors were made of marble and were smooth to the touch.

Deeper into the building, there were two winding stair cases – one to the left, another to the right. It seemed as if the stairs went on forever, but Eve could see the stairs led to a platform at the top. Eve walked closer to the stair case on the left, but suddenly, she saw a flash of something shiny. It came from the platform. Eve elbowed Chung.

"Hey, we should go up there and see what's at the top," Eve said, pointing to the platform at the top of the stairs.

"I don't think it's a good idea," Chung said as Eve grabbed his wrist, leading him up the stairs.

"Chung, you walk up and down stairs all the time, it's not like just because there aren't any railings on the stairs means one of us will slip and die." Eve said.

"It's not that, I just have a bad feeling about this," Chung murmured.

"You have a bad feeling about everything." Eve noted. "You said the same thing when your mom gave you a haircut."

"T-that was a d-different kind of bad," Chung stammered. "She could've missed and sliced off my ears and I would've ended up deaf!"

"And in the end, you still have both ears and could hear," Eve said. "Last one to the top has to buy the other ice cream for a week," Eve and Chung scrambled up the stairs, careful not to accidentally shove the other off.

Just as Eve's foot was about to step onto the platform, Chung launched himself at the platform, only to land nowhere near the platform due to the extra weight of his armor and his Destroyer.

"Haha!" Eve shouted, raising her fists and dancing around. "I win~!" Chung grunted and quickly sprinted up the stairs with his Destroyer over his head. "You have to buy me ice cream for a week!" The minute he was on the platform, he dropped his Destroyer onto the platform, gasping for air.

"Dang, that thing is heavy," Chung said, breathlessly.

"Really, I think you would've known by now," Eve noted. Chung rolled his eyes, but then his gaze past Eve and he noticed a large floating violet orb. It floated near the platform, but not on it.

"Wow," Chung breathed in awe, brushing past Eve to see the violet orb better.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?" Eve demanded, turning around to see where Chung was going. Eve's jaw went slack. "Oh my gosh,"

"This is…really…big for an orb." Chung said, inspecting the sphere.

"Well, gee. I didn't notice that. Thanks, Captain Obvious," Eve said, sarcastically, as she approached the orb. Eve stared at the purple sphere. It was pretty, captivating even. She felt as if the orb was, gradually, drifting away from her. Eve slowly walked forward – she almost walked off the platform, until Chung grabbed her arm.

"What are you trying to do?" Chung asked. "I don't think diving into concrete is such a good idea," Eve knew she would regret it, but she glanced down. She instantly felt dizzy and nauseous. She stumbled back from the edge, but Chung caught her before she could stumble off the other edge.

"Thanks," Eve mumbled, standing up and steadying herself.

The screeching sound of a blade being dragged along the marble floor filled her ears. Eve was about to turn around, but just before she did, the sound stopped. Out of curiosity, Eve turned around.

"Well, well, well. Look at the two brats that decided to barge in without a proper invitation,"

* * *

**(1) - I haven't been on Elsword in a while and I've never actually seen that Rod Ross dude and there's literally NOTHING about that guy on the Elwiki the Internet, too. So, I'm just assuming things. In my eyes, he looks like a stuck-up mama's boy. Or most people's definition of a sassy guy.**

**(2) - I'm not sure if Elrios has ice cream trucks, or even ice cream for that matter, but I really wanted Noel to chase after it, I mean how else would they have met Raven without Noel screaming, "NO! CHUNG AND EVE! YOU SHOULD AVOID THAT GUY!"**

**(3) - Let's just say that the Destroyer was Jun's gift for Chung on his 11th birthday and he was always too busy to ever teach Chung how to properly use the Destroyer.**

**(4) - Since Raven's human, his arm isn't jacked up so that means he doesn't have a Nasod arm so he wears a gauntlet that looks like his Nasod arm...idk.**

**(5) - In my eyes, Raven is this moody weirdo. In Zenya's eyes, he's acting nice so he can gain their trust.**

**Short chapter, I know, but I actually read my writing before updating for once~ (I got Zenya to read it over, too, but...w.e) I'm not used to typing in 3rd person so it's all weird. It was originally supposed to be longer but then I remembered a derpy fact and it screwed up my idea. Also, when I was trying to describe the Halls of Water I wanted stairs to be there because it'd be really illogical if Chung and Eve were to just fall and land on that platform or fly up there - they're not Superman, people! Anyway, guess who the person at the end speaking is. It's probably obvious, but meh.**

**See that box down there? It's lonely so, fill it with words and then click review or something.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N：Ｉ****have to admit, I didn't know who that guy was at the end of the last chapter, so I had to ask Kayuki…Derp XD. This chapta gonna be actiony! :D I hope I don't screw it up though. It'd be a bit tricky, since everyone is ****_human_****. This might also be a little short (T.T what's with me and all these short chapters? D:). Did I have to do research on various weapons? Yes, yes I did. Some of the weapons the people use may be…A bit unrealistic, but this is an AU. So it's okay.**

**I guess I have to do this…What time is it?**

**REVIEW ANSWERING TIME!**

**TsukixnoEvernight: Thanks! (I've also seen it three times…Heh heh…) The truth is, we actually don't have that much of the plot figured out. (Lol, the irony :P). Kayuki says thanks about the 3rd person thing, and coming from someone who has as much experience as you, it means a lot. Yep, Eve does have all the fun J (GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUUUUUN.) About the idea thing, it is actually good…We'll see about that….Yep; we're totally making you think. MAKING YOU THINK HARDER THAN A MATH TEST, BWA HA HAAA!**

**And chapter start!**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"It's not like this is a tea party or anything!" Eve said, trying to hide the fact that she was terrified of that 7 foot tall white haired man with the scary face. Unfortunately, it could not be done.

"Nice comeback." The man rolled his eyes. Chung held his Destroyer protectively in front of his face. He _knew_ he shouldn't have come here! But of course, being the spontaneous person she is, Eve just _had_ to rush in. _If only Father were here, he'd know what to do, _Chung thought.

"W-who are you?!" Chung demanded.

"You might as well know who your murderers were." The man shrugged. "My names Ran. I _own_ this place, and as far as I'm concerned, you're trespassing."

"And what are _you_ going to do about it?" Eve said, building up confidence. Surely, this was just some angry guy complaining about kids crossing his lawn, or something like that.

"Enough small talk, Ran." A bored voice came from the other side of the orb. He was tall, yet shorter than Ran and had bright blonde hair with menacing eyes.

"Yeah, let's just do this already." Another voice called out, this one feminine. Her long blonde hair reached her feet (Chung was surprised she never tripped) and her forest green eyes shone with pleasure. Along with the short-ish black dress she was wearing, she reminded Chung _exactly_ of Rena. It sent shivers down his spine.

The blonde female ran up the stairs to Ran's side, towering over Eve and Chung.

"S-stay back! I have a canon!" Chung warned.

"Is this really Jun's son? I would have thought he would be…Less of a coward." The blonde female sneered.

"Why's that? Jun's already a coward himself. Must run in the family." The blonde male snickered. Some of the fear Chung was feeling earlier fled him and was replaced with rage. How could those mean people say that kind of stuff about the King? How could they say that kind of stuff about his _father?!_ While the adults were laughing, Chung managed to find the trigger on his Destroyer. He slowly rotated it until it was positioned parallel to Ran.

"What are you doing?!" Eve whispered.

"I'm going to get us out of this mess…"Chung replied. Eve might think they were just a couple of gangsters messing around, but Chung knew their real deal. And he couldn't bear imagining what Rena would think if he didn't return home.

He pulled the trigger.

A bright blue blast erupted for Chung's Destroyer, knocking Ran off his feet.

"Damn kid!" The blonde female shrieked. She withdrew two chakrams .Chung couldn't believe he didn't realize them earlier. The blonde male proceeded to draw out _his_ weapon: a retractable _chigiriki_. Neither Eve nor Chung had ever seen one before; they had only heard about it in classes. Wielded by this ferocious man, the chigiriki could prove as a fearful weapon.

"These guys really mean business." Eve muttered, fear shaking her voice. She certainly was _not_ expecting this. Why were these guys picking on two kids, anyway?

"I-it's okay, I have a canon…We'll be fine." Chung reassured.

"But you don't even know how to use it!" Eve hyperventilated.

"Don't worry…" Though as Chung said those words, he wasn't too sure of himself either. Eve nodded.

"WHO ARE YOU GUYS?!" She shrieked, more loudly than she intended.

"Seris," The blonde female bowed.

"And Alex," The blonde man followed suit.

"Aw man, they're going Team Rocket on us…" Eve muttered.

"What business do you people have with us?!" Chung demanded. He had tried to sound strong and brave, like his father always did during his own battles.

"Our master," Ran said, standing up from the blow Chung had delivered to him. He had almost fallen off the platform. That would _not_ have been good." Said we needed to _deal_with you guys. Comprendo?" He smirked, drawing out a _tachi_. Chung honestly thought their weapon choices were…Strange.

"What do we do?!" Eve panicked.

"Don't worry, I told you _I got this._" Chung assured.

"Pfft, easy for you to say. I'm the only one here without a weapon!" Eve said. Suddenly, Seris threw one of her chakrams in Eve's direction, barely making contact with her head. Eve thanked the King that she was somewhat short.

"Missed." Seris snarled as the chakram went flying back to her, catching it. That moment seemed to signal a war. Screams erupted through the Halls of Water as Ran, Seris and Alex charged towards Chung. Without thinking, Chung grabbed Eve and pointed his Destroyer downwards, pulling the trigger, sending both of them feet higher than their opponents. Chung quickly grabbed a root hanging out from the ceiling, keeping him dangling, yet safe in the air. Eve shuddered. Unlike Chung, the only support she had was Chung's own arm!

Seris grumbled. That Chung kid was as tactful as his father. Fortunately, she had the solution to that. Clutching both of her chakrams tightly, she threw them upwards. Chung tried swinging around to avoid them, but has the bladed circles came hurling towards him, he had no choice.

He let go.

Eve shrieked as both her and Chung went tumbling towards the ground, landing hard on the platform, surrounded by Ran, Seris and Alex. The chakrams flew back to Seris, who caught them with ease. In spite of herself, she couldn't help but smile. She was sure she would come home today, greeting a satisfied master.

XXX

Noel licked his ice cream thoughtfully. There was _something_ he was doing, but he couldn't remember for the life of him. Shrugging, he skipped into the castle.

Like always, Rena stood at the door, looking as pissed as ever. This time, Ara was sitting on a nearby chair, looking uncomfortable with the current situation.

"'Sup, Rena!" Noel greeted. Rena glared daggers in response.

"Where's my child?!" Rena demanded.

"Huh?" Noel stared blankly. _Does she mean Chung?_ He thought. Suddenly, his eyes widened in realization; He had left Chung and Eve behind! "Err…Right, well, I don't exactly know…"

Rena's eyes flared. "Find. Them." She growled, withdrawing the green and white bow she hadn't used in years. Noel stared at it. Even he knew how well of an archer Rena was back in the day; Hell, she was even entitled as the _Grand Archer._

"Y-yeah!" Ara stammered, raising her spear.

"Since when were you so dorky, Ara?" Noel teased. Ara had always been so cheerful, happy…Not at all shy like she was now. Ara threw her spear in rage, landing above Noel's head. "Dang, girl. No need to be so angry."

"I'm serious, Noel. If you lose my- _our_ children, then we will seriously kill you." Rena stated. Ara nodded.

"Whatever. I'll at least…Try." Noel shrugged, sauntering out the door.

"If you don't find them by the time the day is done, you'll be banned from the kingdom." Rena warned. Noel's eyes widened. Banned from the kingdom? But he had nowhere else to go! He wouldn't be able to see Jun or Chung…He'd had to live somewhere else, and as far as Noel knew, every other kingdom was extremely mean.

"This time we mean it, Noel! The Demons are getting stronger and we can't…We can't afford to lose anybody!" Ara stammered.

"What about me? If you lose Chung and Eve, you lose me too." Noel smirked. He knew his amazing logic would make those young (Only by 1 year!) Whippersnappers take back their word and let him stay in Hamel.

"Please, you're just a nuisance everywhere you go. You literally destroy everything you touch." Rena scoffed. As she said that, the ice cream cone Noel was holding melted and fell to the ground.

XXX

_Where could they be? They're only kids…_Noel thought as he rampaged all over town trying to find those kids. _Okay, okay…They were last at Lucy's shop…I'll go there! Oohh, this is just like one of those detective shows!_

When Noel arrived at Lucy's shop, he immediately shot thousands of questions at the poor girl.

"I don't know what you are talking about!" Lucy panicked.

"You know, the Prince of Hamel…He's the short little kid with blonde hair and armor, carrying around a canon?" Noel said.

"Oh, _that_ kid. Yes, he went with some silver haired girl somewhere in that direction." Lucy pointed.

"Thank you, sir. Your service was most useful." Noel bowed, sprinting to where Lucy pointed. _Yep, I'm totally the bossest detective EVER! I'm even better than Jimmy Kudo (1)!_

From the corner of his eye, Noel spotted Raven, cantering around. As Jun's best friend, Noel knew almost as much about Raven as Jun. Being 8 years younger than Noel and Jun, he had to deal with their "teenage years" at a young age, which Raven certainly did not like. Meanwhile, Jun and Noel were always having fun teasing Raven and, believe or not, watching him grow up. Unfortunately, neither Noel nor Jun liked how he ended up growing up. To quote Noel, "It's like he's a lot meaner than when he was a kid! And a lot scarier!"

"Why are you so happy, Ray Ray?" Noel giggled. Ray Ray was a nickname he and Jun had come up with for Raven. "That name sucks!" Ara had said.

"No reason~" Raven sang.

"Is there something you know that I don't?" Noel asked.

"There's _always_ something that people_ in general_ know that you don't." Raven jeered.

"Do you know where Chung and Eve are?" Noel said, ignoring Raven rude insult. First Rena, now _him?_

"I heard they went to the restricted part of town. What a shame, really. They didn't even have a tour guide or anyone to tell them that it was wrong." Raven shrugged. "Oh well. I guess that's that."

"The restricted part of town?! But that's…Restricted!" The restricted part of town was basically like a barrier. It was connected directly with Sander, and it was restricted because of Jun. Jun thought that every other region was "unsafe". Noel agreed, to some extent. The only other region he was okay with was Velder. To protect to people of Hamel from coming in contact with the "foreigners", as Jun called it, and vice versa, Jun sealed off the city, so no one was allowed to go in, and no one was allowed to go out (Unless they had special permissions).

Noel ran toward the restricted part of town. Sure enough, the bridge behind the building was different than he last remembered. Without hesitation, Noel took out a feather, bottle of ink, and paper (A scholar was always prepared!) and lay on the ground, writing a letter. Then, Noel raced to the castle.

"N-Noel?!" Rena stammering when he had rushed through the doors, but Noel wasn't focusing on Rena. He dashed up the stairs, all the up to the highest floor; the indoor barn. He ran to the closest Wyvern and attached his letter to the Wyvern's leg, sending it out the window.

_Dear Jun,_

_I heard from Ray Ray that Chung, and his friend, Eve, went to the restricted part of town. I don't know how he knows this, but knowing it, he didn't just "hear it from someone else". I suggest you go after them. If they went to The Halls of Water…You don't know what could happen._

_Your bro,_

_Noel_

Noel only hoped that his letter would reach the King of Hamel in time.

XXX

"Let's get this over with. They're enough of a nuisance as is." Ran muttered, raising his sword. Chung's eyes widened in horror.

"What about the girl?" Alex asked. Eve felt offended. Chung was referred to as _Chung,_ but she was referred to as only _the girl?!_

"You two can get rid of her as well. After, she is a witness." Ran smirked.

"A-Are you going to kill us or something?!" Eve said.

"Duh. It's our mission, girly. Besides, now you _know_ we're criminals, so we have no choice." Alex explained.

"Pfft, yeah right. 'No choice'…You people would probably kill whether you were supposed to or not!" Eve said.

"Well, you do know how fun it was to chase you little kids around. And killing is even more fun, so yes, you're right." Seris chuckled. Those people reminded Eve of the classic bad guys from movies she saw, and in every movie, the bad guys always failed, and the good guys won. But Eve wasn't so sure that she'd win this time.

He heard the sound of a blade slice the air. Only thing was, it wasn't Ran's blade.

"Dammit!" Ran yelled, holding the side of his arm, which now had a deep cut. Chung stared, starry eyed, at Jun Seiker.

"Ran! Are you okay?!" Alex and Seris cried in unison.

"I see it's you guys." Jun narrowed his eyes. "You'll regret picking on my son."

"And your son's friend!" Eve added. Long sword in hands, the King of Hamel chased after Alex and Seris. Seris threw her chakrams around wildly, but each time missed her target.

"T-this is CRAZY!" Eve shrieked, trying to dodge the flying chakrams.

"At least you're not dead." Chung said.

"Yeah...I guess you're right." Eve smiled as Jun caught one of Seris's chakrams, smashing it with his sword. Chung had to admit, his dad was pretty cool. _Someday, I'll be just like him…_Chung smiled, grabbing his Destroyer and firing another blast at Ran, sending him crashing down off the platform. Moments later, Jun had crushed another one of Seris's chakrams, leaving her defenceless. He swiftly slashed Seris's face, before moving on. He obviously wasn't here to kill.

"This is ridiculous!" Alex screamed, flailing his chigiriki. You could tell how unskilled he was in using it when the weight at the end of the chain hit the ceiling of the cavern multiple times.

"You should really watch where you swing that thing." Jun muttered as rubble fell on his head.

"Why are you acting so casual?! We're fighting here!" Alex roared, as if it wasn't obvious. Suddenly, as the tip of his chigiriki hit the ceiling of the cavern once more, the result was much worse than mere rocks and rubbles falling down. This time, it was the _ceiling_ that came crashing down.

Several shrill screams echoed off the now tumbling walls of The Halls of Water. Jun picked up Chung and Eve and sprinted out the cave as tonnes of earth, rock, and water quickly filled the cave.

"HOLY SHIT!" Alex screaming, jumping off the platform with Seris, both of them landing on their feet like cats. Unfortunately, being the "safe" person he is, the King of Hamel ran down the stairs instead, taking the long way.

"Hurry!" Eve shrieked.

"I could go faster if your mother didn't insist on you wearing that armor or carrying that canon…"Jun grimaced. The canon…_That's it!_ Chung thought. With a little difficulty, Chung turned his canon so that the end was behind him. He wasn't sure this was going to work, but it did in cartoons.

Chung pulled the trigger, sending him, his friend and his father forward at great speed. It was more of a jump than a rocket push, as Chung thought it would be. Nevertheless, as the trio heard the rumbling of the rocks and the rushing of water, they went even faster. Even faster. So fast that they actually made it. Unfortunately, so did Alex and Seris. The amount of rocks was great enough the fill the gap of the hole of the cave, sealing out The Halls of Water for the rest of eternity.

"You'll be sorry for scaring my beautiful face!" Seris yelled, running away, somewhere beyond Sander with Alex.

"Oh well. They're gone now." Jun sighed, dropping the children.

"Didn't they forget that Ran guy?" Eve said.

"Who cares? That's one less person to deal with." Jun chuckled.

"Thanks for saving us, father." Chung said. "We would have died otherwise."

"You have Noel to thank for that." Jun said. Chung's mind went blank. Noel? Noel was the savior of the day? "Anyway, we should go home now. It's already nightfall. You kids must be starving."

"Speaking of food," Eve turned to Chung, "Remember, you owe me a week's worth of ice cream!" _Maybe Hero's really do always win._

XXX

Today was the most action filled day Chung had ever experienced. It was so exciting; he didn't even know how to react to it.

"Chung," The Prince of Hamel's door opened wide to reveal his father.

"'Sup dad?" Chung had learned that word from Noel. Right now, he had a lot more reasons to be thankful for Noel.

"There's something I need you to do. You'll do it, right?" Jun asked.

"Of course. Anything after you saved me and Eve earlier. Besides, you're my father. I kind of _have_ to listen to you." Chung giggled.

"Great, because I need you to come to war with me."

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**(1)- Detective Conan! Lololololol/shot**

**A/N: How was that? I'm not sure if the action scenes were too good…Oh well! Don't worry, Ran i-**

**Chung: SHADDAP or you'll spoil it!**

**Zenya: Heh heh. Right…Well, Ran's still…Ran…and about Jun using a ****_sword…_**

**Kayuki: He should've used a Destroyer like Chung! ._.**

**Zenya: He's the friggin General of the Army; I think he'd know how to use various weapons…**

**Eve: Speaking of weapons, I really need one. ****_Everyone_**** has one and I'm just a useless piece of cake! D:**

**Zenya: Cake is nothing to be ashamed about. Besides, Noel doesn't have a weapon either.**

**Eve: But…But he's still the hero!**

**Noel: HELL YA! I SAVED YO ASSESS!**

**-Noel has been kicked from the room-**

**Ran: What's with us having crappy weapons?**

**Zenya: I wanted unique weapons, not just swords or magic stuff or whatever.**

**Ran: :I**

**-Ran has been kicked from the room-**

**So, once again, tell us what you think! I don't think the fighting scenes went too well, but whatever. I think the plot (Which I hope isn't obvious) will really start to pick up from here.**

**R&R!**

**-Zenya**

**P.S I finished this in one sitting…Wut.**


	4. Chapter 4

**We're just going to reply to reviews through PM now, unless for some reason it's a guest. We're just lazy like that. derp. -Kayuki**

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**Chapter 4**

_"Great, because I want you to come to war with me," Jun said._

The king of Hamel was busy arranging a few things, giving Chung time to eat and prepare. Chung anxiously nibbled his bread as the time ticked away and he had to leave to go to war. He _really_ didn't want to go to war, but his father looked so proud when he said he would. Chung drank the glass of water - it would probably be the last glass of water he'd drink that's _actually in a cup_.

Chung quietly headed up to his room. A few minutes later, Jun walked up the stairs to Chung's room.

"Alright, Chung, let's go," Jun whispered, careful not to wake Rena. "The carriage is out back," Chung instantly shoved something in between his mattress and chucked the item in his hand somewhere random, giving his father and innocent smile. Jun gave Chung an odd look and headed back down. Chung sighed and glanced back to the item he had shoved in between his mattress. He descended the stairs and headed to the back door. It was rather hard for him to sneak out because his dad wanted him to wear his armor since the demons could be still active due to the fact that it's still quite dark and his armor would make shuffling noises everytime Chung moved.

After a few steps, Chung got annoyed and just walked normally to the back door. Jun left the door open for Chung, so once Chung was outside, he quietly closed the door behind him.

Jun and his son sat silently for several minutes. A few minutes later, the carriage started moving and Chung suddenly didn't feel so well. He didn't have motion-sickness, but the thought of him going to war was making his stomach feel uneasy. Chung tried to not think about the war, but he couldn't help but think of all the possible out-comes of the war. Chung bit his lip nervously. In effort to comfort his son, Jun decided to spark a conversation.

"Chung, about yesterday –" Jun started, but he didn't get to finish because his son freaked out.

"What about yesterday?" Chung blurt, rapidly. "Nothing happened yesterday. Eve and I _totally_ weren't at the Halls of Water. We were at the Halls of…er… Liquid!" Jun raised an eye brow. "It was all Eve's idea!" Chung instantly felt guilty for pinning the blame on his friend. "Technically, it was Uncle Raven's fault since he's the one who brought up the idea in the first place, but..." Upon hearing Raven's name, Jun was suddenly worried.

"Did you say _Raven_ brought up the idea?" Jun asked. He's been trying to prevent Chung from ever meeting Raven because ever since he became king, Raven's hated him to the point where he tried to kill Jun.

"Yeah," Chung replied. "We bumped into him on the streets,"

"What did he say, exactly?"

"Well, not much, he just said you probably haven't told me about him yet since you've been so busy at work, then he led us to the Halls of Water – um, er, I mean, the Halls of Liquid,"

"He led you two –_two children_– to the Halls of Water, where you possibly could've been killed, and left you two there _alone_?" Chung nodded. Jun cussed under his breath. "Going after my son, huh?" Jun muttered.

"Father," Chung said, "who were those people who attacked us yesterday?" Jun gave his a son a sad smile.

"Believe it or not, those people were your Uncle Raven's _friends_," Jun said.

"But, why, what did Eve or I ever do to Uncle Raven's friends? We didn't even met him until yesterday,"

"Chung, listen; it was a trick. He's trying to…" Jun's voice trailed off, trying to think of a way to tell his son without scaring him much. "Never mind, just promise me you'll stay away from him,"

"Okay," Chung mumbled.

"Good," Jun said, "now, onto different matters; did you learn how to use the Destroyer?"

"Um, sort of," Chung replied, sheepishly.

"What do you mean? Haven't you been practicing?"

"Well, you see, father. I have been trying to practice, but I just don't know _how_ to use it, you see I wasn't really ever taught or ever given a manual on how to use it, so –"

"So, that's how it is," Jun sighed. "I guess I'll just have to teach you myself when we get to the camp," Jun smiled. "Nothing like father-son quality time, am I right?"

Chung forced a smile. "Y-yeah," Chung was still kind of in a parallel universe, worrying about the fact that he's not even old enough to go to war yet he's still going. He hasn't told anyone about this; not his mother, not Eve, not even Uncle Noel. And he's starting to regret it too. What if he chickens out at the last minute? Will he have to actually go to war? Will he run home? _Will anyone find it? _He ask himself. He should've told someone so he would've had a way to get home.

While Chung was deep in his thoughts, the carriage halted to a slow stop.

"We're here, Chung," Jun said. His son didn't respond, he just sat there with the same horrified expression. "Chung?" Jun said, waving his hand in front of Chung's face. "Hamel to Chung, can you hear me?" Chung snapped out of his thoughts.

"Er…yeah, I can hear you loud and clear…" Chung murmured, hopping off the carriage. Jun got out of the carriage and it drove back to the castle. "So, here we are." Jun gestured to a large, wide, rectangular building. Chung cringed. It didn't exactly look welcoming. There were small square windows and one pair of double doors.

"Well, the other recruits will be waiting," Jun said, "I'll give you a minute to get to know the others," Jun walked away, leaving Chung standing in front of the doors like an idiot.

"But I don't want to get to know the others," Chung mumbled. Chung took in a deep breath and walked in.

XXX

The large grandfather clock in the dining hall tolled eight times, meaning it was eight. The sunlight poured in through the large glass windows of the dining hall. Rena sat at the head of the table. Before, Jun sat at the other end of the table, but of course, now he's too 'busy' to care for his family anymore.

Rena waited for Chung to come down stairs like every other morning, but it's been 25 minutes and he still hasn't come down. He usually isn't this late for breakfast. Rena decided to go check on him. She started walking up the stairs, but halfway up the stairs a maid comes running down, frantically.

"Oh, Queen Rena, thank goodness you're here right now," She cried. "I-it's the Prince!" Rena was suddenly worried along with the maid.

"What about Chung?" Rena demanded.

"He's gone," Rena felt the blood drain from her. Her son –the most important thing to her– is gone; missing. Rena stumbled a bit as she headed back to the dining hall. She plopped herself down into the seat. Rena picked up the spoon in her bowl and poked at the food in the bowl. Her palm propped her head up. She was too concerned about Chung to eat, or do anything for that matter. Where was he? Was he safe? Is he all right? _Whoever kidnapped him,_ Rena thought, _is going to die._ Then a possibility occurred to her – what if he wasn't kidnapped? What if he ran away from home? _If he did, I swear, I am giving him the scolding of his life when he comes back._ Tears streamed down Rena's face. She buried her face in her hands, sobbing silently.

"I just want my son back right now," Rena sobbed.

XXX

Eve's hands were in rubber gloves, arranging and rearranging wires inside a little project she was working on. She connected the red wire and green wire, making the green and blue wire cross. She pulled at a yellow wire, hooking it onto a small peg on the opposite side of the mechanism's circuits.

Ara walked up the stairs to her daughter's room. Ara pursed her lips, unsure of whether to be angry or frustrated at Eve. She has told Eve _countless_ times to not to play with electricity and mechanics. It's dangerous and she could easily get electrocuted and die, if not; suffer from a mild burn. Ara sighed, leaning onto her daughter's door frame. Upon hearing the sigh, Eve turned around to face her mother.

"Oh, hi, mom," Eve murmured, turning back to her small device.

"Eve, how many times have I told you not to play with machines and wires? They're dangerous and you could get electrocuted." Ara said.

"Don't worry, mom, I'm wearing protective gear (1)," Eve said, raising her hands so that her mother could see the rubber gloves she was wearing.

"Still, something could go wrong, like an explosion or something," Ara ranted. "I don't want you get hurt,"

"If you didn't want me to get hurt, you wouldn't send me into that sea of people at the markets every week." Eve said. That reminded Ara of why she had come up to her daughter's room in the first place.

"Speaking of the market," Ara started. Eve groaned.

"Oh God, not this again," Eve complained.

"I want you to get a few consumables from Denka. The items are on the counter," Ara said, walking away.

"Alright, I'll be down in a second," Eve said, nonchalantly. Eve grabbed her screw driver and twisted the screws in to hold a piece of plastic in place so it'd cover the circuits. She rolled her device over and pressed a small button, hoping it would finally work this time. However, the circular device only creaked and shot out a few sparks. Eve sighed and headed down stairs.

She headed over to the counter with her shoulder bag. Eve just opened her bag and pushed everything into the bag and began walking to Denka's shop.

"'Sup, Denka!" Eve greeted, walking into the shop. Noel had a rather noticeable influence on her and Chung's grammar. The otter looked up from his writing and saw the silver haired girl.

"Hello, Eve," Denka replied. "Here on another errand?" Eve nodded, approaching the desk. Eve pulled out the items required to craft the consumables her mother needed and placed them on the desk. Denka scooped all the items up in one swift movement and headed behind a curtain with his arms full of items.

Several minutes later, Denka emerged from behind the curtain with a bag in hand.

"Here you go," Denka said, handing Eve the bag. "That'll be 1000 ED," Eve stuck her hand into one of the smaller pockets on her shoulder bag and fished around for some ED. She grabbed two handfuls of ED and placed it on the counter. Denka quickly counted it up and placed them in a small bag.

"Bye," Eve said, taking the bag off the desk.

"Have a good day," Denka called back as Eve left the shop. Eve ran through the streets quickly, since she wanted to go hang out with Chung. Eve burst in through the front door, sprinted into the small kitchen and tossed the food onto the counter.

"Hey, mom," Eve said, briefly, "I'm going to Chung's. Bye, mom,"

"Ah – Eve, honey, could you wait for minute?" Ara called. Eve grunted, wishing she had run out the door faster. Eve trudged back into the kitchen.

"What is it, mom?" Eve asked. "I'm kind of in a rush here,"

"Well, I think maybe you and I could spend the day together instead of you always running off to play –"

"Hang out," Eve corrected.

"Right – hang out with Chung," Ara finished. "You and I haven't really had the chance to bond ever since you two were old enough to walk and talk." Ara walked over to Eve and led her to a small couch, sitting down. Ara patted the spot on the couch beside her. Eve sighed, sitting down beside her mother. "I miss the old days when I talked to you and you would just gurgle and squeal like no tomorrow; it made me feel stupid for telling a _baby_ about my problems. But, you'd at least hear me out then, but now it's like you've completely forgotten about me."

"I don't know, mom, I was a baby; I didn't really have a choice," Eve said.

"I know, but we used to spend at least _some_ time together, I miss having you around the house. You're only here whenever you're sleeping, eating or when I call you on errands." Ara said, hugging Eve. Eve awkwardly hugged her mother back.

"I, um, can stay home today if you want…" Eve mumbled.

"That would be nice, we could finally have that mother-daughter day we never had," Ara said, smiling. Eve didn't forget that she was just about to go to the castle, but she felt bad for kind of ignoring her mother. Eve mustered a smile.

"Yay," Eve said, trying to sound excited. Ara grabbed her daughter's hands and led her to the kitchen.

"We could bake desserts like phoru cookies, and when the Harmony Festival rolls around we could go over and get some pies."

"Sounds like fun, but we should probably finish cooking lunch first," Ara cringed.

"Um, maybe you should go read until I'm done with the actual cooking then we can talk once lunch is finished," Eve headed up stairs to her undersized room, somewhat offended that her mother thinks she's incapable of cooking or helping her cook.

Eve headed up to her room and sat down in front of the small shelf in her room. She kept a case of tools and gears on there – the shelf was pretty much only bought so Eve would have a place to put her tools, gears and little projects.

Eve didn't own many books – the only book she owned that wasn't a How-to was a book Chung gave her for Christmas the previous year. As she scanned the shelf, at the very bottom shelf in between a case of gears and a set of tools was the spine. She thought she lost that book. Eve tugged the book out from in between her case of gears and tools.

Eve held the book delicately in her hands. _The Hero and The Stalker _(2). It was covered in dust and the spine was battered. She didn't remember ever reading it. Eve opened the book up onto a random page.

_The girl wanted to see him again, but she feared he did not. However, that didn't stop the girl. She remembered the mayor of the town saying something about him staying at the local inn during the ceremony. The girl smiled to herself. She reached into her closet and pulled out a black cloak and a…sombrero?_

_Whatever, the girl thought, shaking her head. She wrapped the cloak around herself and placed the sombrero on, adjusting it so its shadow hid her face. The girl was about to run out her bedroom door, but then remembered her parents were down stairs. They'd obviously question her about her suspicious attire then she'd end up explaining and she doubted her parents would let her go afterwards._

_The girl opened her window and hopped out._

"Eve, lunch is ready," Her mother called. Eve slammed the book shut and shoved it back in between the two cases.

"Coming!" Eve replied, scrambling down the stairs. Eve sped-walk into the kitchen since Ara doesn't like it when she runs in the house. Eve washed her hands and sat down in one of the two chairs at the table.

"Now, let's have that talk," Ara said, sitting down in the seat across from Eve's.

"Hm?" Eve asked, already eating.

"How about we finish lunch first _then_ have that talk?" Ara suggested.

"Fuoor," Eve said, with a mouthful of food. Ara twitched and began eating.

XXX

As Eve and Ara did the dishes, a thought occurred to Eve. "Mom, I have a question," Eve said, drying a plate and placing it in the dish rack, "a family question."

"Ask away," Ara said, rinsing a bowl.

"I was wondering; why haven't I ever seen dad around before?" Eve asked.

"I…I – I can't really answer –" Ara's sentence was cut short.

"Actually, who _is_ dad?" Ara bit the inside of her cheek as she handed Eve the bowl.

"Look, sweetie, I…" Eve placed the bowl into the dish rack.

"Do I even have a dad or was I placed on your doorstep in a basket?"

"Eve," Ara snapped. "You _do_ have a father and you _are_ my child."

"Then tell me _something_ about him," Eve said as Ara turned off the running tap. Ara wiped her hands on a piece of cloth and headed over to the couch, Eve followed suit.

"Your father…was someone who I thought was a reliable person, but I was proved wrong shortly after you were born. A month or two after you were born he left us, without a word. A lot happened at the time and I was frustrated and confused, I wanted to just hunt down your father with my spear and spank him hard, possibly even stab him. But, it was less stressful once Rena had Chung, I had someone I could trust you with,"

"Why not before? Wasn't Rena your friend?" Eve asked.

"Yes, but, before she couldn't even change a diaper properly,"

"Uhg! Back on topic, what does this have anything to do with father?"

"Ah, I'll tell you about him another time. Right now, you might want to head over to Chung's since I'm planning on taking naps this afternoon," Eve hesitantly stood up and was about to walk out, but then she remembered something. She sprinted up the stairs, ran into her room and pulled the book out from in between the two boxes. Eve ran back down the stairs and out the door.

The castle was about a half an hour walk from Eve's home, but Eve walks there everyday anyway. Chung understood her even though their personalities were almost the total opposites – she was out-going and didn't care for the world, he was wary and gets a bad feeling about everything new. She didn't understand why Chung was so cautious of everything, but she understood him enough. But, you know what they say; opposites attract.

At the castle doors, Eve knocked and the doorman answered like always. Eve smiled and greeted the doorman as she walked in. Everything was oddly silent. She walked up the stairs to the second floor. Every door was closed, but usually Chung's door was opened. As Eve approached Chung's bedroom door, she heard sobbing coming from another room.

Eve pressed her ear against every door. She found the sobbing was from Rena's room. Eve knocked on the door and Rena opened the door. Rena looked terrible; her eyes were bloodshot and red from all the crying and her hair looked like a rat's nest. She had a thick, fluffy blanket wrapped around her.

"Whoa," Eve said. "What happened?" Rena wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.

"Well…I…" Rena broke out into sobs again. Someone suddenly tapped Eve on the shoulder. She turned around and a maid led her out of the room.

"What happened?" Eve repeated.

"This morning, Prince Chung was discovered missing," The maid said. "Every member of the staff was sent on a search throughout the castle and Queen Rena sent the guards searching for the prince all over Hamel."

"Chung's _missing_?!" Eve blurt. The maid instantly clamped a hand over Eve's mouth.

"Quiet, the queen is very sensitive about that, whenever the subject is brought up she breaks down all over again," Eve removed the maid's hand.

"Does _anyone_ have any idea where he could've gone?" The maid shook her head sadly. Eve sighed, frustrated. She wanted to find Chung, but she had no idea where to look for him.

"You should probably go home now, Miss Eve," The maid suggested, walking down the stairs. Eve hesitated, but eventually ended up going home.

XXX

"Dad, I can't do it," Chung said, nervously.

"Can't do what?" Jun asked, looking up from his work.

"I…I can't go; I'm too scared," Chung mumbled, clutching his Destroyer's handle. Chung was wearing his usual white armor. He had grown used to it, but it was still somewhat difficult to move around in.

"What's there to be afraid of?"

"_Everything_, dad," Chung said. "All the fighting, the killing, the bombs – everything,"

"Listen, Chung," Jun said. "You were going to have to go to war sooner or later, so, I'm just helping you get prepared if anything were to happen and the demons managed to invade the city,"

"Invade the city?!" Chung shrieked. He felt lightheaded and stumbled back a bit.

"As a man, you should be brave, even if you're not; at least put up a brave front, and take on whatever challenge is thrown at you, don't hold back; give it your all."

"Yeah, if I give it my all in war it might be my last try at _anything_," Chung murmured. "I don't want to get killed," Jun patted Chung on the back.

"Don't worry, if you get injured I'll send you back to the castle right away. If that happens and your mother asks how you got injured, tell her you fell off the stairs at the Halls of Water," Jun joked. Chung wanted to believe that he wouldn't get hurt, but this was **war** they were talking about. "Lighten up, Chung. Don't you trust your old man?"

XXX

Ara sat on the couch, looking through her photo albums. She'd already gone through the one of Eve as a child, learning how to walk and whatnot. Ara set that album aside and opened another one. On the first page, it had a photo of Rena, Aisha, and her all together in front of their college. Ara smiled, she remembered what her school days were like. It was like all they did was hang-out and talk back then. The other photo was of Rena sleeping. Ara remembered the story behind that photo. Ara and Aisha had decided to tease Rena a bit so they drew a curly moustache underneath Rena's nose with a marker when she fell asleep in class.

She turned the page. There was a photo of Rena and Jun, happily married, that took up the whole page. Ara suddenly felt really alone, literally. She turned the page but before she could get a good look the photo, the doorbell rang.

"Coming," Ara called, putting. She opened the door and her mouth fell agape. Her anger started to boil inside of her.

"Hello, Ara," Ara grit her teeth, gripping the door knob to the point where it might actually break.

"You're not welcome here," Ara said, clenching her teeth.

"But this is_ my_ home – I paid for you and Eve's shelter. I kept up my part of the deal, now it's time for you keep your part of the deal; where is she?"

"I'm not handing her over!" Ara spat, slamming the door. But before the door fully closed, he stopped the door.

"Oh, come now, you shouldn't be like that," He stepped into the house, approaching Ara.

"Stay away from me," Ara backed up with each step he took forward. As Ara backed away, she saw something glint in the sunlight. She adverted her gaze towards the shiny item; her spear. Her spear – of course! Ara's hand inched towards her spear. However, he also saw her spear. He grabbed her spear and held it out of her reach. Ara scowled.

"You don't have to get violent, Ara, just hand her over and I'll leave you alone," He said, casually observing her spear.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Ara kicked his leg and he fell over, her spear rolling out of his hand. Ara ran over to her spear and scooped it up in her hand. She stood in a ready stance as he stood up.

"Well, you certainly haven't changed," He muttered.

"Who…who are you?" Another voice interrupted. Both their heads snapped in the voice's direction.

It was Eve.

* * *

**(1) - At first I was going to type this: "Don't worry, mom, I'm wearing protection," and then I read it over and then I'm slowly creeping away from my laptop, cringing at how weird that sentence was so I changed it to: "Don't worry, mom, I'm wearing protective gear," still doesn't sound right, but it's better than the other one.**

**(2) - Meet our possible future fanfic, 'The Hero and The Stalker'. Its acronym; THaTS. Mmhmm. We might or might not start it just yet because if we ****_do_**** start it we're going to be juggling a lot of stories (I think 4 stories), but then again, there's this one author that's juggling like 31 stories, so...**

**URG! I'm going to shoot myself! I told myself I wouldn't make it a cliffhanger, but what to I do? I make it a cliffhanger! GROAN!**

**Rena: Wow, I overreact. Even for a mother.**

**Me: Well, think of it this way, your son is kidnapped or murdered by demons, how would you feel?**

**Rena: um, devastated?**

**Me: that works.**

**Raven: Hey! Why am ****_I_**** not in this chapter?**

**Me: Well, Chung and Jun talked about you,**

**Raven: Yeah, ****_talked_****.**

**Me: Whatever, you'll get your own chapter later. You play a fat roll in this story being Chung's 'uncle' and all.**

**(;_; school's starting in 3 weeks.)**

**HEY, I know this chapter took longer than most, but I finished it and it's sort of long as well~**

**There isn't much about what happens to Chung in this chapter because...well, I have no idea what it's like at military camp, therefore, I can't describe what it looks like or anything about it. All I know about it is that there's this guy, you screw up he yells at you, "Drop and give me 20!" or is that just high school P.E... idk. So, Zenya suggested that I type some stuff about Eve and after that, I totally neglected Chung. lol. I wanted "The Halls of Liquid" to originally be "The Halls of Ran's Piss" but then I remembered Chung didn't know who Ran is at the time and he's a prince so I don't think he uses the word piss. Everyone totally doesn't care that Jun's not home because well, he's almost never home so it's most likely that everyone will assume he's at work. R&R please!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: At first I didn't know what to write about in this chapter. But then I knew. Aaanyways, I'll try to make this chapter actually worth something (i.e. not filler...) I hope you enjoy!**

**Kayuki probably won't like who I add here but…I HAD TO DO IIIT!**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Chung nervously walked through the pair of double doors. The place seemed eerie, like a graveyard. He wasn't sure where he was supposed to go at all.

"Hey, you kid! You must be a new recruit." A staff member grabbed Chung's arm, leaving him no choice but to let the spooky staff member lead him to an unknown room.

Inside the room were rows and rows of clean, white bunk beds. In each bed were children ranging from ages much higher than him. Chung suddenly felt a lot more nervous. He bet he was the youngest there.

"You can go take the bed above Miss Apple." The staff said, pointing at the only empty bed, closing the door of the supposed "dorm room". Chung gulped, creeping up to Apple. She was still sleeping. Everyone was sleeping. Apple, though, seemed to be the least scary out of all his new "companions". She had long flowing pink hair and large eyes. Though she wore the same white uniform as everyone else, Chung could tell she was royalty. _Well, at least someone else is going through the same pain as me_, Chung thought.

He considered climbing up the ladder into his bed. But would he really sleep in his armor? And how long could he possibly sleep? Everyone was surely to wake up soon.

"Hi." Apple whispered. Startled, Chung jumped up, careful not to scream. Her eyes were still closed, and she maintained the same position as before, but no doubt it was her that talked.

"You're awake, aren't you?" Chung whispered. Maybe she was sleep talking. Maybe she actually wasn't some creepy stalker…

"Yes, I am awake, Prince of Hamel Chung." She smiled, opened her pink eyes.

"H-how do you know me?!" Chung panicked.

"You're the Prince of Hamel. You were all over the news when you were born." Apple smiled again.

"How old are you, again?" Chung asked. If this person remembered when he was born, he was amazed at how old she could possibly be.

"I'm 14 years old." She replied.

"Then how could you remember?!" Chung demanded. This girl was…_Too weird. Best to avoid her, _Chung thought. "Never mind. I'll go sleep now, so if you're going to continue being creepy, please do it quietly." He climbed up the ladder, when-

"You shouldn't-" Apple was cut short by Chung breaking the wooden ladder with a loud _snap_. She immediately leapt from bed, catching the Prince.

"WHAT THE-" Chung screamed, rolling out of her arms and landing on the floor with an even louder _thump_. He regretted wearing armor as several murmurs spread throughout the room. Chung had woken them up.

"What time is it?"

"We still had 3 hours of sleep!"

"…Huh…?"

"It was that kid!" A tall girl yelled, pointing at Chung. All eyes locked on Chung as he struggled with pulling himself up. Chung shuddered as the countless pairs of eyes dug into his skull, leaving him defenceless and weak. The same girl walked towards Chung with a hateful glare. She raised her hand, just as Apple raised hers, slapping the girl across the cheek, leaving a red mark.

"You shall not strike the Prince of Hamel Chung." She warned.

"The Prince of Hamel and the Princess of Altera, eh? What exactly happened last night, Apple?"

XXX

"Who…who are you?" Eve interrupted. Ara's eyes widened. She arrived home earlier than expected. What would she tell her? Eve wasn't ready to know…Yet.

"Stupid salesperson! We don't want your shampoo!" Ara cried, throwing the man out of her house. "Sorry, that was just another _annoying_ spokesperson." Ara laughed, trying to cover up the truth. Fortunately, it worked.

"Oh, okay." Eve shrugged, heading inside. Ara loved how kids were so delusional. _She won't be a kid much longer, though…_Ara worried. Eventually, she _would_ need to know, and she wasn't looking forward to when that would happen. The man glared at Ara before shrugged and sauntering off into the streets.

"Why did you return so early?" Ara asked, changing the subject. She motioned for Eve to join her on the coach.

"Apparently, Chung's missing," Eve said. Ara's eyes widened with concern. _How's Rena fairing with all of this,_ she thought.

"Why would he go missing all of a sudden? You both just came back from…from the restricted part of town…I wouldn't think those guys would think of targeting you two again just yet." Ara's voice quivered.

Eve shrugged, "I don't know, Chung's really weird. Maybe he ran away…" _But why would Chung run away? I thought we were friends …_ Eve thought. Ara said something, but Eve didn't hear her. Her eyes were swelling up with tears as she quickly excused herself to her room, locking the door.

Stupid Chung! Why was he always so _unfair?!_ It was like he didn't care for her at all! First fighting those…Those gangsters on his own, then running away…He never included her! They were friends since birth; she thought maybe they'd be better friends than that. But noo, he had to just ruin everything! Now she was left all alone. She had never bothered to make any friends besides Chung; she believed they'd _always_ be _best _friends, that there would be no need for any other. _Maybe this is his way of avoiding the ice cream deal, _Eve chuckled to herself.

XXX

"I don't know, Chung's really weird. Maybe he ran away…" Eve shrugged.

"I don't see why Chung would run away. He was a beautiful home, family and friend." Ara smiled, though she was sure Eve wasn't listening. She hung her head in a sort of depressed way, and then dashed up the stairs. Ara sighed. _This was the result of not spending enough time with your daughter…_

Suddenly, Ara remembered something that would definitely cheer up Eve.

_"Mommy! Mommy!" A giggling, tiny Eve had run into Ara's arms one bright day._Ara frowned, remembering those times. How she wished it could always stay like that._ "Chung showed me his canon today!"_

_"Oh? Where did he get it?" Ara asked, cocking an eyebrow. She didn't quite believe Rena had entrusted her 5 year old son with a canon._

_"How am I supposed to know?" Eve laughed again. "We were playing with it, though! But Chung accidentally pulled the thingy and a huge blast came and exploded the tree! Chung was crying." She giggled._

_"Sounds exciting." Ara chuckled._

_"Yeah! Chung said he was going to learn how to use it! Can you teach me how to use your spear?" Eve's eyes shone with hope. This was the bad thing about children. They always hoped for more than possible, and when you let them down, they cried their heads off._

_"Sorry, dear, but my spear is too dangerous." Ara sighed._

_"WHAT?!" Tears swelled in Eve's eyes. "B-but Chung gets to use a canon!"_

_"That's his parent's decision. I am your parent, and _my_ decision is that you don't use a spear."_

_"At least teach me how to fight!" _Those were one of the most common sentences Ara heard from Eve. She knew that part of Eve's frustration now was because Chung could fight and she couldn't. Maybe now was the time…

_No!_ Ara shook those thoughts out of her head. She couldn't yet. She had promised herself that she wouldn't teach Eve until she was 13. Admittedly, that was her own fault. She knew that Chung would be properly trained by the time _he_ was 13, and she should have expected Eve to be jealous. But Ara Haan always kept her promises. And so did Jun Seiker.

Just like that, Ara knew where Chung was.

XXX

"The Prince of Hamel and the Princess of Altera, eh? What exactly happened last night, Apple?"The girl laughed.

"What happened is that Prince of Hamel Chung arrived. That is all." Apple replied. Chung facepalmed at how blunt this girl was.

"What's with his outfit?!" The girl snarled. "This isn't war…_Yet._"

"Stella of Bethma, should it really matter what he wears? I view this as being careful and cautious. As Lord of Pain Valak taught us, a battle could break out at any point." Stella of Bethma? Lord of Pain Valak? Chung's head was spinning with all these unknown names. _Of course, it comes with being the new kid,_ he sighed.

"Right. I doubt he can do push-ups and drills in _that_." The one known as "Stella" jeered.

"You shall not talk to the future King of Hamel with that tone." Apple snapped. Chung didn't understand why this girl, someone he met mere minutes ago, was standing up for him. He did understand one thing, though; why his father deemed everywhere, besides Hamel, as unsafe. These people were purely weird and intimidating.

Stella stuck her tongue out. "Whatever, _princess_. It's policy to wear _these_ stupid uniforms anyway."

Apple sighed, "She is right, Chung. It is policy to wear that uniform. You better change."

"Where am I supposed to put my armor?" Chung asked.

"Under the bed." Apple said with a monotonous voice.

"Huh?"

"I said under the bed."

"Why?"

"I estimate that is the least likely place it will be discovered."

"You know there's a crowd right here and everyone _heard you_, so…"

"Right…" Apple turned to the crowd. "Please forget what Chung and I were talking about. Goodbye." She said, resuming saying where she thought the armor would be best placed. Chung facepalmed again. Apple certainly did act like a princess.

XXX

"You look cute." Apple giggled.

"Pfft, right." Chung rolled his eyes. "It's just an ordinary uniform, anyway."

"Well-" Apple was interjected by the doors of the dorm opening with a loud _creak._

"Morning, lifeless souls." A deep, rough voice called. He had incredibly messy raven hair, and he wore a black mask that covered his eyes. Chung wondered how he could see at all. He wore heavy black armor and carried around a black blade. He reminded Chung of a Demon. One that would someday invade Hamel…

All the children lined up next to their beds, including Apple. Chung followed suit, attempting (and failing) at acting casual.

"Good Morning, Lord of Pain Valak!" Everyone chorused.

"What's this? The _Prince of Hamel?_" The man snarled. "Ooh! Looks like we have a royal _pair_ now. Tell me, kid how have you taken a liking to Apple?"

Chung had a feeling he wasn't expected to answer, but did so anyway, "She's fine, I guess-"

"QUIET!" He snapped. Chung stammered back, tripping on his discarded armor, which he and Apple hadn't bothered putting away. "I have no idea why you were sent here. Who in their right mind would send someone as worthless as you?" He shook his head.

"My father-"

"Your father must hate you and wanted you to die, then." The man smirked. Realization filled Chung as quickly as one drank water. His father hated him. His father wanted him dead. This man, though as deadly as he was, made him see the truth; his father sent him here to die by the hands of this very demon. Chung gritted his teeth, standing up. He may be young, small, and helpless, but _no way_ was his father going to win. Yes, this time, the son would defeat the father.

XXX

It took only a matter of minutes before Eve realized how foolish she was acting. She didn't need Chung. He was just some stupid, arrogant, jerky Prince! Eve didn't like to admit it, but she had always thought her and Chung would end up like Rena and Jun. But she had forgotten the details. Rena was so lonely, and Jun was never at home…Who would want to end up like those two? She was glad things ended up like this, after all, before someone got hurt. _Meaning me…_Eve thought.

Yes, Chung would get her killed. She had noticed how those gangsters were specifically after Chung. Chung was the Prince, after all. There were bound to be several people that hated him. Being around him would be too dangerous. Right now, she would make new friends. Literally. She grabbed handfuls of wires and gears and set them down, beginning to arrange and assemble. _Red to blue, green to yellow…_

XXX

Rena was known as one of the smartest, most clever, most thoughtful person in all of Hamel. So if that was so, how come she couldn't figure this out? How come nothing made sense anymore?

Rena thought something had changed ever since Chung had been born. This time, it was her. More caring, loveable, gentle, yet at the same time, aggressive, protective, and fragile. She had figured this came with motherhood. _But I might _not_ be a mother any more…._worried thoughts invaded Rena's mind.

She didn't know who to blame; Chung, Noel, Jun, or herself. She had already confronted Noel 50 times, and he didn't know anything. She had tried sending a message to Jun, but she doubted he'd even notice. _Maybe Chung really did run away. I must be a terrible mother…What was I doing wrong?! I gave everything up for _him,_ and he just…Leaves…_

As the days passed, Rena didn't go outside anymore. She didn't even leave her room. Stuck in the eternal force of thought, she didn't have any more will. The two things she cared about most were gone. What was the point of her being there?

_In case they ever return…_

XXX

Eve smiled, not evilly, but as someone who had just discovered something new. For she had. She had discovered _new, better_ friends.

"Welcome," She hugged the both of them. Although she had made them herself, she felt strongly connected towards them. "Moby and Remy!

* * *

**A/N: Heh heh. This chapter was…**

**Kayuki: Another one you wrote in one day? ._.**

**Zenya: Yep! :D**

**Rena: Seems a bit depressing. Are you going to have me commit suicide or something? ;~;**

**Zenya: Maaaybee…**

**Rena: *weeps in corner***

**Eve: Why is Apple stealing my Chungie?!**

**Zenya: She's a princess. She's only being formal. And nice. And blunt…**

**Chung: I still think this chapter is evil. Especially with Valak being in it.**

**Zenya: Shaddap! This is perfection! :D Anyway, please do R&R. It'd be appreciated and maybe help us update faster…?**

**Eve: You already update twice in one day. How can one go faster?**

**Zenya: Quiet. I'll be going to Europe tomorrow, so I won't be able to update in…3 weeks :3**

**Cheers and R&R!**

**-Zenya**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Ara paced around her room, biting her nails and scratching her head with the other hand nervously.

_Should I tell Rena? _Ara asked herself. She knew where Chung is, she even confirmed it by heading up there herself, and she knew Rena was out of her mind with worry for Chung so why can't she just tell her? Maybe she should just tell her when she visits today.

_No! I can't! Jun brought Chung to a _military camp_, obviously he's taking Chung to war and knowing Rena, she'd never allow that in a million years. Heck, she'd disapprove even in her afterlife._

**_Jun must've been really desperate for soldiers to bring his own son to war. _**

_ Right, so that's why I can't tell Rena…Am I doing the right thing?_

_ **Of course you are. You're helping out Jun by not telling Rena and getting his ass burned and potentially screwing up his trust in you. Also, you're helping Rena.**_

_ How?! She's basically killing herself worrying about Chung! And here I am, knowing very well where her son, who she thinks is _missing_, is and I'm not telling her!_

"What the hell do I do?!" Ara shouted, smacking the vase off her dresser. It shattered once it came in contact with the floor. Ara bent down to pick up the shattered pieces of porcelain.

The silver haired girl retreated from the key hole on her mother's bedroom door. She headed back into her room and sat down on her bed. Moby and Remy floated towards her.

"Moby, Remy, what am I going to do?" Eve asked, turning her head so she could see Remy. "Mom's talking to herself and Rena is in hysterics," Despite the fact that Moby and Remy still can't communicate in anyway yet, Eve still talks to them. Eve poked at Moby and Remy for a while, thinking.

Meanwhile back in Ara's room, Ara was wandering around her room like a lost puppy as she talked to her friend.

"Aisha, what if Eve finds out?" Ara whispered to the purple-haired mage. "She can't know that he's here, she'll want to spend more time with him and eventually leave me like he left me." Aisha sighed, tapping her staff with her gloved finger.

"Ara, quit being so paranoid. She's not going to find out as long as you prevent her from leaving the house." Aisha said, waving her staff as an intricate tea pot and cup appeared, floating, and poured tea into the cup. Aisha grabbed the tea cup's handle and the tea pot disappeared. Aisha took a sip. Ara ripped at her hair.

"Aisha, I send her on a trip to Denka's hut _at least _once a week and if I don't send her, she'll know something's up. I can't risk her bumping into him!" Ara yelled._  
_

"Just lock her in her room or something," Aisha said, nonchalantly, waving the tea cup around.

"Gosh, Aisha, you're so hopeless with children,"

"Why do you think I'm single and have no children," Aisha said.

"I can't just lock her in her room! Even if I did, who knows how long I'll have to lock her in there for. The dirt bag could be in town for days, weeks, months even! I can't keep her locked in her room that long!" Ara shouted, ignoring Aisha's comment.

"I guess you've got a point there…but –"

"No buts, I'm not going to lock her in!"

"Fine, suit yourself, but I've got a mass to host," Aisha said, glancing at the clock on the wall. "I'll see you later," With a wave of her staff, Aisha evaporated into thin air. Ara sighed, looking at herself in the mirror.

"God, I need a break. Too much is happening for me to cope with right now…"

XXX

A siren wailed causing Chung to shoot up in his bed. His head slammed into the ceiling.

"Ow…" Chung muttered, rubbing his head. The sun was only just rising and only a sliver of sunlight entered the room. "God, I just had the weirdest dream."

"And what's the dream?" A deep voice asked.

"Well, father asked me to go to war with him and I agreed and then I was sent to military camp and…" Chung looked up and almost fell off his bunk. "Oh my god, you're the guy from my dream!"

"Oh, how nice, I was in your dream," The man said, with a fake smile. "Now get off your ass and line up!" The man yelled. Chung looked around and noticed that the room was deserted except for him and the man. Chung groaned, realizing that his dream was definitely not a dream.

It's been two weeks yet he still hasn't accepted the fact that his father sent him to a _military camp_ to get himself killed. He was lying, he wasn't going to protect him when they're at war, he won't even send him back if he's injured; he's just going to watch him bleed to death on the battle field.

Valak showed him 5 fingers and a bunch of random finger signs, which Chung assumed was sign language, and then he just left. Chung just guessed Valak meant he had 5 minutes to get ready.

Chung jumped off his bunk since the ladder was utterly useless and broken. He quickly changed and headed out the same door Valak left in. Once Chung was outside he saw everyone else all in uniform and lined up. Chung silently lined up next to Apple, who was at the end of the line.

He saw that everyone was holding a sort of mask. Chung tapped Apple's shoulder.

"What's that?" He asked, pointing to the mask in Apple's hand.

"It's –" Before Apple could finish, Valak came by and chucked something at Chung, smacking him right in the face. Chung picked up the item and realized it was a mask, the same as Apple's and the others'. "It's a gas mask,"

"What's it for?" Chung asked. Apple didn't reply.

"It's been two weeks since you lifeless souls have arrived and that means Red Phase Two is ending soon and we'll soon commence White Phase One," Valak announced as he walked from one end of the line to the other. "Today, we'll be finishing up the Red Phase with NBC training. Head down to the gas room," Valak ordered. Everyone started walking towards the road path.

"What's NBC training?" Chung asked as he walked with the group.

"Practice with tear gas," Stella exasperated. "God, don't you know anything? For the Prince of Hamel, you sure are stupid." Stella walked ahead. Chung grumbled. _Everyone _expected him to be some extremely intelligent kid, but he was only 11, what could he do about it? It's not his fault that he never learned what NBC training was.

XXX

Chung followed the group to a strange abandoned building. Everyone suddenly stopped and put on their mask.

"Um, do we put on the mask now, or what?" Chung asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, we do, and it's called MOPP gear, get it right, Seiker," A purple haired man said in an obvious tone, as he pulled on the MOPP gear. He then walked away with another person, who also had their MOPP gear on. With everyone wearing the MOPP gear, Chung couldn't really tell who was who, since all you could see were the eyes.

"That's Richian, he's a friend of Stella's," A short boy said. Chung turned and saw Allegro.

"Yeah, I can tell," Chung muttered. "Why don't you have your ma – I mean, MOPP gear on yet?"

"I was just about to put it on," Allegro said, putting the mask on. During the two weeks Chung was there, he didn't really talk with many people, with exception of Allegro and Apple and they were it – the only people he had somewhat befriended. Despite that this is military camp, Chung wished Eve was here. He missed his friend. _I wonder if someone found it yet..._

"Okay, you lifeless people, once you people get in the gas room, do some movements and stuff to see if you properly put on the mask –" Valak declared.

"MOPP gear!" Richian shouted, somewhere in the middle of the group.

"Whatever, Richian, I don't care!" Valak yelled back. Valak split everyone into 3 groups. "Okay, unit 1, you're going first." The first group consisted of Apple, Allegro, and several other people.

The first group walked towards the gas chamber, but before they entered, Valak stopped them.

"Once you come out, you should wave arms around to rid the tear gas that clung onto your uniforms," He said. Apple nodded and the group proceeded into the gas chamber.

XXX

Raven was once again waiting in the abandoned alleyway of Bethma that he and his friends meet at. He has been waiting since sun down and it was very much past midnight. Raven's anger was at boiling point and was about to explode, right when he heard footsteps. Raven turned around.

"So," The blonde female said, leaning against the wall of the alleyway, "what's this 'important news' you had to tell us?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Well it took you long enough, I've been waiting here for 7 hours," Raven hissed.

"Sorry, we had some…business to take care of," Alex said, glancing at Seris. Seris grunted and rolled her eyes.

"Ah, right, Ran died in that temple; Temple of Piss, was it?" Raven recounted.

"Technically, I was trapped, not killed, and it's called the Halls of Water," Another voice intervened. Ran emerged from the shadows of the walls with a white bandage wrapped around his head, covering his forehead. One of his arms was in a cast and his other arm was covered in scars along with bandages.

"So you got out?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, they had to dig me out with a shovel and –" Ran was cut off by Alex.

"Okay, yeah, we don't need to go into detail," Alex blurt. "So, the important news, Raven,"

"Ah, yes," A smirk appeared on Raven's face. "It seems that my _nephew_, has gone missing,"

"And you were a part of this?" Alex asked. Raven stifled a laugh.

"No, the runt ran away," Raven said, laughing. "Maybe you guys did scare him off,"

"I doubt that," Seris cut in. Their eyes turned to Seris.

"What do you mean?" Ran asked.

"I mean, the kid's a **huge **coward so why would he run away when the safest place for him is the castle? It's even more dangerous for him out there, being the Prince of Hamel and everything." Seris explained. Raven's eyes narrowed.

"What are you getting at?" Raven demanded.

"I'm not getting at anything," Seris said, raising her hands defensively, "I'm just saying, it seems unrealistic that the kid, who's a huge coward, would run away."

"S –"

"By himself,"

"Y –"

"Into the wild,"

"W –"

"Without anyone to accompany him,"

"Okay, we get it!" Raven shouted, flailing his arms about.

"So what do we do now?" Ran asked.

"Are they ready?" Raven demanded.

"Who?" Ran asked, utterly clueless.

"_Them_!" Raven hissed.

"Oh! Not yet, we're still short a few hundred."

"They better be ready soon," Raven ordered before walking out of the alleyway, fading into the shadows due to his black clothing.

XXX

"…I mean you're a mother, too, Ara. You know I'm not overreacting, right?" Rena ranted.

"Huh?" Ara asked, snapping out of her thoughts.

"Do you think I'm overreacting about Chung…running away,"

"Well, if I were in your shoes and Eve was missing, I probably would be just as worried, but I think you're taking it a bit too seriously," Ara said, peeking through the curtains. There were still a few soldiers left, wandering onto the boat. Ara could see the frightened pedestrians, cowering into a corner.

Rena frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you didn't have to send soldiers to all the other regions just find a little boy –"

"That boy is my son, and also if you happened to have forgotten he's also the Prince of Hamel, heir to the throne." Rena was on the verge of yelling at her friend as tears welled in her eyes. "If he never comes b-back, it's not just me losing my only son, it's all of Hamel losing their future king," Rena's voice was cracking and she was trying hard not to think of the possibility that Chung really will never return. Ara sat down next to her friend and patted Rena's back soothingly as Rena began crying again. Ara's guts twisted and knotted. She couldn't stand keeping such a big secret from her heartbroken friend.

"C'mon, he'll be alright." Ara reassured. "Chung's a smart boy, you taught him well. He must have his reasons, right? I'm sure he'll find his way around and once he's done with…whatever he's doing, I'm positive he'll come back. Safe and sound," Rena kept bawling and sputtering incomplete sentences. "He'll definitely come back. Alive." Ara whispered, more to herself than to Rena. She just hopes she doesn't regret not telling Rena later.

XXX

_"Chung, let's say I were to disappear," Eve said, observing a dead dandelion. "Would you come and find me?"_

_ "Well, sure, you _are_ my best friend. I'm sure you'd do the same for me," Chung said, smiling._

_ "But are you sure? It means you might have to leave the safety of the castle and possibly Hamel," Eve pointed out._

_ "It's worth it, I'd rather die trying to find you than die not knowing where you went," Chung said. Eve's usually pale cheeks grew the slightest pink. She punched Chung on the arm playfully._

_ "H-hey!" He shouted, laughing. "Whoa!" He suddenly fell off the hill and rolled down to the bottom of the grassy hill. Chung sat up, his head spinning. He blushed, embarrassed. "What was that for?"_

_ "Don't joke about something like that!" Eve shouted from the top of the hill, blowing away the dandelion seeds furiously._

_ "Don't joke about what?" Chung asked._

_ "Before, when I asked you if I were to disappear," Chung finally got back to the top._

_ "I wasn't joking, Eve," Chung said, sternly. Eve flinched at the sudden change of atmosphere. Eve stuck her two fingers at the corners of Chung's mouth and pushed them upwards._

_ "Don't be serious; it's creepy when you're serious. A smile suits you more," Eve said. Chung sighed._

_ "Whatever, anyway, what did you wish for?"_

_ "I can't tell you, or else it won't come true,"_

_"Tell me!" Chung whined. Eve giggled, shaking her head._

_"Nope!" Eve got up and started running away. Chung stood up, running after her._

_"Tell me!" Chung shouted as he chased her._

Eve's eyes snapped open. _What was it that I had wished for? _It felt like it had been so long ago when Eve had made that wish, but it had only been 3 months since then.

"'I wish what Chung said was true,'" Eve whispered to herself. _That's what I wished for._ Eve sat up, rubbing her eyes. She yawned. "Morning, Moby, Remy," Moby and Remy floated to Eve's bed and Moby suddenly started making these weird noises. Eve was worried something was wrong with Moby's circuits.

"Did Moby fall in water?" Eve asked. Eve knew she should've given them the waterproof upgrade sooner. Suddenly, Moby coughed up a piece of paper. It was covered in oil and dust and it was wrinkled. Eve picked up the small square of paper.

_Dear Eve,_

_ I've only got 5 minutes to write this. I'll probably be dead by the next time you hear from me, either from your anger or from war. In my will, I'll give you something. Look after Noel; you know how he can be, comfort my mother. I'll be going to a faraway place with my father. So hopefully I don't die._

_ -Chung_

"What…" Eve was shaking, "…the…"

XXX

"Unit 3, your turn," Valak called shortly after Toma and the rest of unit 2 came walking out of the gas chamber, waving their arms like there had been a party inside the building.

Chung gulped as his group proceeded into the gas chamber. Allegro gave him a thumbs up as unit 3 passed by.

_Okay, so, movements first. _Chung reminded himself as he began twisting and stretching. Everyone else started movements, but two people leaning against the wall. As Chung moved, cold air hit his lungs. Chung stopped stretching and readjusted his MOPP gear so that no air outside would seep into the mask.

Someone approached the two people leaning on the wall.

"What are you two doing? You're supposed to be doing movements," They said.

"Who are you to tell us what to do? Plus, you're not even doing to movements yourself so piss off," The slightly shorter figure snapped. Chung recognized that voice to be Stella's voice. Chung inched closer to the two figures as the other recruit scrammed away, fearing for their life and well-being.

Through the mask of the taller figure; who was still casually leaning against the wall, Chung could see chunks of dark purple hair. It was Richian. Chung decided not to say anything because from the way Stella acted when the other recruit pointed something out, Chung didn't want to face Stella.

Valak entered the room with a box of matches.

"Okay, you guys ready?" He asked. There were several nods. Valak pulled out a match from the box of matches and handed it to the closest recruit. "Light this and toss it at the pile of junk and it'll burn the stuff that looks like crack along with the junk, so, once I give you the signal light it." Valak backed out of the gas chamber. There was a kick at the door and the guy holding the match swiped it across the bottom of his boot and chucked it at the pile of junk.

The pile of junk and powder started burning and a type of gas started spreading within the room. The gas got thicker and thicker, so thick it was almost like fog.

_What if my mask wasn't put on properly? What if I die? Is this stuff hazardous?! AM I GOING TO DIE!? _Chung asked himself. He started backing away from the gas. His back pressed against the wall and the gas reached his end of the wall. Chung sucked in a deep breath and held it. He managed to hold it for several seconds, but then his lungs started to burn and Chung just couldn't hold his breath anymore. He cautiously breathed a few times, seeing if he could actually breathe. He let out a sigh of relief.

_Oh thank goodness, I put it on properly,_ Chung thought. Just then, a series of coughs erupted from the far left corner of the room; the same place where Stella and Richian were. Chung warily crept towards them. As he approached them, he could see that one of them was bent over, coughing, and the other was trying to help the one coughing.

The one bent over started clawing at their throat and gasping for air.

"What the heck are you doing, Richian?" Stella demanded.

"Can't…breathe…" Richian choked out. Stella looked in Chung's direction.

"Don't just stand there; do something!" Stella shouted. Chung flinched and shouted the first thing that came to his head.

"I-it's okay, I have a canon! We'll be fine (1)!" Chung yelled. He mentally smacked himself.

"What! What use would a cannon be of right now? And you don't even have it with you!" Stella shouted. Richian's skin started to grow red, almost like a burn. Stella started to fret. "Uhg, you're useless! Someone help!" Richian was coughing violently and was gasping like he was being drowned.

Suddenly, a person dashed over in their direction and bent down next to Richian. They tried to pry the mask out of Richian's hands, but Richian instantly ripped his mask away from the recruit.

"Bitch, this is _my_ –" Richian coughed into his arm, "– MOPP gear! Get your own!" The recruit reached for Richian's mask.

"Just let me see it, Richian," They said. Richian began coughing violently again and his hand released the mask, dropping it on the floor, to cover his mouth. The recruit grabbed the mask off the ground and shoved it onto Richian's head, securing it properly.

"Hey!" Stella shouted, pulling at the recruits' arm.

"Let go! I'm trying to help him!"

"Not by suffocating him with his own mask, you're not!" The recruit ignored Stella and dragged Richian to the door. The recruit pulled and pushed at the door, but both ways replied with a jammed sound.

"It's locked," They muttered. The recruit backed up and kicked the door down. They quickly dragged Richian outside and yanked him away from the entrance.

The rest of unit 3 slowly filed out of the gas chamber and Valak ran over to the person who kicked the door down.

"What the hell is going on?" He demanded.

"Richian didn't have his mask –" They were cut off by Richian.

"I…it's…MOPP…gear…" He muttered, weakly.

"He didn't have his MOPP gear on properly and when they lit the tear gas this happened," They explained. The recruit pulled off Richian's mask, revealing that his right cheek almost had a red pattern on it and the skin looked almost gooey and plastic-like (2). It looked demented and deformed, like his skin was wax and was melting.

Everyone grouped around Richian, the recruit and Valak. Chung took one glance at Richian's cheek and instantly looked away, wincing.

Shortly after everything settled down and Richian was getting the proper medical treatment, Chung approached the recruit.

"Um…hey," Chung murmured as they turned around. "What you did back there was really amazing," The recruit laughed.

"Thanks," They said.

"Erm, are you from Hamel…?"

"No, I'm from Velder," The recruit said. They took of their mask and her chestnut coloured hair fell to her shoulders. Her light brown eyes had a peculiar glint in them. "Nice to meet you, Prince Seiker (3), I'm Hannah,"

XXX

Eve scrambled down the stairs, running past the living room. The photo album from the time the weird 'salesperson' was there had been left open on the couch, and eventually fell onto the floor.

"Eve, before you go, can you pick up the book on the ground?" Ara called from the kitchen, taking a tray out of the oven. Eve groaned and hastily ran back into the living room and snatched the book off the ground. As Eve grabbed the book, a photo slipped out of the book. She closed the book and put it on the shelf. She bent down to pick up the photo that had fallen out, but out of curiosity, she looked at it.

"Eve, did you pick the book up yet -" Ara froze as she walked towards Eve. Before Eve could even register what was in the photo, Ara snatched it out of her hand and tore it into a million little pieces right on the spot.

"Why'd you rip that photo, mom?" Eve asked. Ara gave a fake laugh.

"Oh, that was just a duplicate photo, it's useless," Ara lied. _I thought I burnt all those! _Ara thought. Eve shrugged it off and sprinted out of the building.

XXX

A certain silver haired girl burst through the doors of Aisha's church, clutching a sheet of paper.

"Aisha, Aisha, Aisha!" She shouted, running to the praying mage at the front of the church.

"What? I'm praying," Aisha snapped, looking at Eve through one opened eye.

"I need your help," Eve said, panting.

"With what?" Aisha asked. "If it's boy troubles you can just leave now. As you can tell I've been single for 34 years straight,"

"It's not that, it's this," Eve said, showing Aisha the sheet of paper in her hand.

"What is it?" Aisha asked, not even bothering to look at the paper.

"It's from Chung," Eve said. Aisha was instantly listening attentively. "I need you to track him down."

* * *

**(1) - This is going to be a re-occurring sentence so, remember it.**

**(2) - I know I should've been more descriptive, but I couldn't go into excruciating detail. Not because didn't want to creep you guys out, because trust me; I really want to creep someone out through writing - well, I want to get a reaction out of that person, but because I didn't even get a good look at the picture. I instantly closed the tab once the images loaded...Yes, I'm _that_ chicken.**

**(3) - Since she's in Hamel, she's obviously heard of Chung so that's how she knows him.**

**asdfghjkl! I'm so sorry, dudes. Somehow, we got a new story favourite, follow and review all from the same person; HelloKitty55443. I know you probably expected me to type this thing up within a day after Chapter 5 was uploaded, but bro, it was summer and the crap just wasn't coming at me. /shot. Anyway, I'm sorry for not updating earlier. I was going to finish it on Sept 2nd, but things came up and so I postponed it. I'm such a terrible author, neglecting this chapter for 4 weeks ._.**

**Anywho, a lot of research was required for this so, if you read something like, _MOPP gear_, don't accuse me of making that up because it is legit shit. Google said so. As you read on in the chapter, it probably gets crappier and crappier. I'm sorry, but I really tried to make it not crappy.**

**Now question for all yo readers, even you people that have no account that are reading this (are there any guests reading this? I doubt it, but w.e.)**

***What Phase were the soldiers introduced to NBC training?**

**a) Red Phase One ****b) Red Phase Two ****c) Blue Phase One ****d) Blue Phase Two ****e) White Phase One ****f) White Phase Two**

**PM us your answer, answer through a review, completely ignore this...whatever, I don't really care.**

**Thanks to HelloKitty55443 (again) for favouriting, following, AND reviewing on our derpy story. Please R&R, point out any grammar errors/typos because I KNOW there's going to be one that I missed and yeah thanks for reading.**

**Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go have nightmares of me going to military camp and getting a chemical burn. -Kayuki**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, let's answer some stuff. To all you people that answered the question (2 people), the answer is B. But thanks for reviewing/answering the question. Thank you to ipuffyx and HelloKitty55443!**

* * *

**A/N: I predict I will write this chapter in one day. Nothing else to do, anyway. (yeah…NO.)**

**Expect update from me to decrease…My obsession with GC has been REBORN!**

**Please note that I don't mind if none of you are Christian. However, please remember that Aisha here ****_is_**** Christian, so whatever Christian thing she does, please don't feel offended. If I do offend you, then sorry!**

**Nothing really to say…Chapter start!**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

The nun stared at the silver haired child.

Could she be serious?

Aisha glanced at the paper, making out the words, "_I'll be dead…" _and,_ "…with my father…"_

* * *

_"Oh, Aisha!" Rena sobs into her shoulder._

_"There, there, child." Aisha strokes the queen's back. "He'll return."_

_"But if he's dead-"_

_"Don't speak of such things. I assure you Chung cannot be dead. Even if he did die, anyone would know that would cause immense war, and no one would want to go to war with _Hamel_; with Velder, we're the most powerful region!" Aisha said._

_"I don't care about Hamel or war or other regions! I care about Chung; it doesn't matter if war erupts, it only matters if he never returns!"Rena choked. _

* * *

"What did you say you need me for, again?" Aisha whispers, so inaudible Eve could barely hear.

"Track him down. I mean, you're the goddess of magic; surely you can do that, right?" Eve's eyes sparkled with hope. It almost made the mage smile.

"The closest thing I have is my Magic Missile. But that tracks _enemies,_ and it _kills them_. Chung isn't an enemy, and you wouldn't want him dead." Aisha said, not daring to look into the child's eyes.

"Can't you hack into the system or something and change it?!" Eve screams, panic clearly visible in her voice.

"This isn't a computer!" Aisha snapped. "This is magic! Magic can't be modified…That would create a whole new spell."

"Then create a new spell." Eve demanded.

Why should she listen to this little girl? She doesn't even know her; she's only Ara's child in her point of view, nothing more. But something screams in the back of her mind, "_Help her! Remember when you were a child? They helped you! You wouldn't even be here without them!"_

* * *

_Huddled in her corner, the tiny magician lies shivering, with only her damp cloak to keep her warm. She stared longingly at the window of the restaurant behind her; people, healthy people, laughing, smiling, _eating…

_Her stomach growls, only to remind her of how hungry she is, how much she needs that food, more than them…_

_A couple stare at her, disgust etched on their beautiful, _healthy_ faces. Of course, nobody liked the starving, violet haired, magician and hobo girl from the streets. Except for one person, but Aisha didn't think the Blondie counted._

_Late one night, Aisha saw 3 cloaked figures approach her, holding out a loaf of bread. She hungrily snatched it, pleasure glinting in her violet eyes; the eyes everyone else called "inhuman". The figures unraveled their hoods, and Aisha came face to face with three bald men, the golden cross of their white cloaks (Or dresses, as Aisha called them.) glinting even in the rain._

_"Someone does care," one of them whispers, " God."_

_"All you need to do is believe!" said another._

* * *

"I will." Aisha said, more to herself than Eve. The child's eyes grew and sparkled like stars in the night sky. She came up to hug the nun, who reluctantly returned the gesture. She stood up, and grabbed her nearby staff.

Eve watched, amazed, at the glowing blue light at the tip of Aisha's staff as the glow slowly turned into atoms, forming some kind of ball. She's never seen any _real_ magic before. This definitely beats watching a phony magician pull bunnies out of his hat.

The staff releases its hold on the ball. Standing beside the mage, whose eyes have mysteriously turned blue, the floating sphere remains _solid._ _Aisha just created...something! She's like God!_ Eve thought. The glowing ball reminded Eve of a snowflake, except much larger, with the cloud standing behind it, controlling its every move.

"Search for the Prince of Hamel; Chung Seiker!" The violet mage commands. "Go! You shall be my eyes."

_The only reason I did it is because I'm a nun, and that's what nuns do…_Aisha thought.

XXX

"Quiet, Elsword!" the ruby knight hissed. The young knight perked his head up.

"What is it, Ele-" His older sister holds a finger up to silence him, approaching the rustling bush with caution. With a swing of her sword, the bush is cut in half and Elesis sighs with relief, holding the dead possum by the legs, feeling the smooth red substance glide across her palm.

"Never mind."

XXX

Chung had to accept it now. He's been at this strange camp for three months. In fact, he was getting used to it. A small part of him even liked it. _No, I don't like it! _Chung shook the idea out of his head. Of course, how could he like this wretched place? He was always picked on by the other recruits, and the drill sergeant was just plain **mean! **"Sir" Valak was the only reason he was failing, Chung believed. Okay, maybe he wasn't exactly failing. He had managed to make it to The White Phase, after all.

_The night is so cold, even with my armor on_, Chung thinks, shivering next to Apple. Both of them had been assigned fire guards night; that meant standing out here, in the cold, "patrolling".

"Are you excited for when we finally get to zero our weapons?" Apple whispered her breath visible in the cold.

"I've already shot a canon before." Chung said lamely. "Nothing to be excited about."

"Well, there must be _something_ you're excited about! I hear White Phase is the most fun!" Apple squealed.

"Apple, we're not supposed to be talking." Chung warned. "What if Valak came out of nowhere?"

"Prince Chung, its _Sir_ Valak, and I don't think he'd come out. Besides, what else should we do for two hours?" Apple said.

"Watching the barracks area." Chung said.

"Oh, please, do you really think Allegro would try _again_ to escape?" Apple rolled her overly large pink eyes.

"Look, Apple, I don't know _why_ you were sent here, but I was sent here to **die**, but I'm not going to let that happen at the hands of Valak!" Chung snapped. Apple frowned.

"Prince of Hamel Chung Seiker, I was sent here for the same reason as you. My region is also expected to go into war." How Apple seemed to know _everyone_ about him, Chung still wondered. "And you won't die. I won't let that happen." Somehow, this didn't cheer up Chung at all. Apple was like a stalker to him, and not a very skilled one, at least in combat.

"Apple," Chung paused, trying to find the right words. "You…I can't rely on you. You're my stalker. I feel as if you make things worse." Chung squeaked, preparing for the blow, but it never came. Apple didn't look angry. She was much worse; sad until the world's end.

"Stalker?!" she screeched. "I'm your friend! I'm trying to help you!"

"I have only one friend…" Chung muttered.

"If you mean Lady- I mean, Eve, then you're crazy! She doesn't care for you! She's abandoned you for _new_ friends! She's not even written a letter! If she can have other friends, why can't you?!" Apple yelled.

"Shut up!" Chung screamed. "What do you know about Eve?! How should you know anything?! Like I said, you _are_ a stalker! She shouldn't know _anything_ about her! Creep! She hasn't written letters to me because she doesn't even know where I am, okay?! I don't believe that she's made other friends. Eve wouldn't do that! She couldn't!"

"Prince of Hamel Chung, you are _so_ ignorant! I am not of the human race; I know things you do not! How dare you call a princess a creep?!" Apple smacked her hand against Chung's cheek, creating red, raw skin. "You don't know anything, Prince of Hamel. All of Hamel is in chaos because of your leaving. If you cared for your people, you would return!"

"HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO RETURN?!" Chung was now angrier than he had ever been, that foreign, forbidden word, _swearing…_It felt surprisingly nice, even if his mother would never approve. "The whole reason I am doing this stupid job is so people _can't_ return. There isn't a way out. I still think you're lying. And anyway, what about your people?!" Unfortunately, Chung never got to hear about Apple's people. A blurry black figure tackled him, sending him tumbling to the ground, enlarging his ever growing bruise.

"You're not allowed to talk. You're waking everyone up." Lord Valak hissed. Apple nodded quickly before running back to the barracks. Valak grabbed Chung's arm, making him stand up. He smacked his gun -when had he been carrying that?- on Chung's cheek, right where the bruise was. Chung tasted something salty, and when he coughed, he noticed the red substance on his palm to be blood. He only had time to see the flicker of a blue light before Valak hit him again, this time on the head, and Chung fell into an endless sleep invaded by Apples, Eves, and strange floating blue and white things.

XXX

The stomping of feet woke him up. In fact, he almost got trampled. Chung jumped up, nearly avoiding Stella's careless foot. He was still outside. They left him here, and, as it seemed, everyone was going somewhere. Chung ran up to Allegro, who was at the back of the pack, trying to keep up.

"What's up?" Chung asked, wincing at the pain in his cheek. _Damn Apple and Valak!_

"Chung, I didn't see you when Valak was doing roll call. Where were you?" Allegro sounded genuinely worried, which cheered Chung up a bit after the Apple incident. _At least I have one real frie-ally, I mean._

"You mean I was left here all alone?" Chung said, more to himself than Allegro.

"I don't know." Allegro shrugged. "Right now we're hiking to the zeroing range. Apparently it's on the side of that mountain!" He pointed. The mountain was quite tall, Chung admitted, and Allegro _was_ afraid of heights…

"I can't run in this armor." Chung muttered. Stopping (Much to the agreement of Allegro), he chucked his helmet on the ground, as well as his shoes.

"Barefoot? What if we run into lava?!" Allegro squeaked.

"Who cares? It's faster this way." Chung yelled, sprinting to the huge pack of soldiers well ahead of them. Luckily, by the time he was out of breath, he had at least managed to crash beside Stella.

"What the hell?" She hissed as Chung collapsed on her leg. She kicked him, sending him rolling onto his side.

"Ow." Chung muttered. "That hurt, you know."

"It also hurts to have an unconscious fire guard partner!" Stella snapped. Before she could make off, Chung quickly grabbed her ankle, tripping her. "Crap."

"Stay." Chung ordered.

"What the hell do you want?" Stella barked.

"I'm just trying to keep up." Chung's breath came out ragged.

"I am, too! We're losing them every stupid second we spend here!" Hesitantly, Stella grabbed Chung's arm, hoisting him up. "Come on." She murmured, jogging ahead. _Aww, Stella has a good side! I must preserve this moment; never know when blackmail might come up…_

"You know, Stella, I always knew you could be good." Chung flashed his perfect prince smile, keeping a steady jogging pace with Stella. _What the hell is that bastard prince thinking? Good? Yeah, right, _she scoffed.

"I don't appreciate being ignored." Chung said after Stella wouldn't answer.

"I don't appreciate know-it-all, bratty princes." She hissed, and sped toward the group of the other soldiers. Once again, Chung was alone.

"No matter, I have my-" Chung paused. His destroyer wasn't there. He left it behind. _Dammit!_ _I could have blasted my way through those people!_ Chung didn't notice when he kicked down a heavily panting Allegro, and raced to Stella and the other soldiers.

A low grumble-thunder, Chung believed, announced his arrival.

"Whoa, that kid actually made it!" Someone gaped.

"I wouldn't expect a _prince _to go that fast-especially at the cost of getting dirty!" Another snickered.

"Oh wow, he looks like an angry hobo." Apple giggled. _Apple_. Of course they weren't friends anymore, so she could laugh at him all she wanted, but still, it only widened the gaping hole somewhere in Chung that had only been growing ever since he arrived here.

"Quiet!" Valak snapped. "We're done for now. I sense thunderstorms coming. Just get in the cave." He ordered, motioning to the big hole a rock behind him.

Once everyone was inside-except Allegro, of course-everyone started unpacking.

_Wait, what?! Unpacking?_

Everyone had backpacks. Except him. Even Stella had told Richian to carry hers for her. Peering over Hannah's shoulder, he saw food and a sleeping bag-essential. His stomach growled, reminding him that he didn't eat breakfast. In fact, he was sure it was just about diner time. How lovely it would have been if he was back at the castle, eating a traditional Hamel feast…But no, here there was no Hamel. Here, he had to be _tough_, because at war, Chung didn't think anyone ate anything. Except for dirt. But he wouldn't go there _yet_. He gritted his teeth and joined in the collecting of wood outside. Clouds gathered above him and another rumble broke loose. _Better grab as much as possible before rain breaks out. Damp sticks are _not_ fun._

Toma looked like he was having the time of his life collecting. Sticks and stones were buried in a bundle in his arms, and he had the stupidest grin on his face-Chung almost laughed. Toma had said he wanted to be a blacksmith, and that would involve lots of materials, so naturally, Toma loved collecting whatever he could, even something as crappy as sticks. _Everyone here has so bright futures,_ Chung thought,_ except me. Going to war and getting killed. Wooo._

Just in time, Allegro came out of nowhere, and flung himself onto Toma. The bundles let loose and sticks and stones scattered the ground.

"_Allegro!_ I just collected those!" Toma scolded.

"Sorry, Toma. I'm just soo tired!" Allegro whined. "If only they had camps based on smarts!"

"They do." Stella rolled her eyes. "Math camp. Science camp. Summer school- if that counts. Jeez, Allegro, don't tell me you signed up for the wrong one!" Stella threw her head back, laughing.

"O-oh…" Allegro flushed, running for the door of the cave.

"Yo, Chungie!" Chung jumped. Toma waved. Why were they including him? "Can you help me pick these up? You can take credit for them." Toma winked.

"Sure." Chung shrugged.

XXX

All the soldiers sat huddled around the small, yet strong fire pit in the middle of the cave. Luckily Toma and Hannah had spared him some crackers and bread, though Chung was still hungry.

"Hey, Allegro." Chung poked his shoulder. Allegro turned around, squeaked inaudible words, then quickly turned around again, facing the wall. "Pardon?" Chung poked him again.

"I-I asked why you were talking to me…I-I thought you hated me…"Allegro shivered.

"I'm not Stella!" Chung snapped. "Where is this coming from?"

"You kicked me!" Allegro yelled, fire burning in his brown eyes. The room went silent. Even Valak took _some_ notice. Allegro _never_ raised his voice over a whisper.

"Okay, dude, I don't remember that." Chung said.

"You- you kicked me aside! When we were hiking here! Even though you were barefoot, it hurt." He said, rubbing the sides of his legs.

"That never happened! What are you talking about? Don't be cray-cray!" Chung snapped.

"If you keep denying it-"

"I'm not denying anything! I did nothing! Are there any eye witnesses?" Chung challenged, suddenly remembering the court system in Hamel. _If there aren't any witnesses, they are obviously guilty._

"Well, no. It was just you and me…"Allegro's voice returned back to the inaudible whispers.

"Exactly, so I didn't do anything." Chung smirked. "That's how it goes~"

"Ugh! You're such a bastard, Chung Seiker! It's bad enough that everybody already treats me bad enough here!" Allegro snapped, and scooted over to an eerie corner of the cave. "Consider yourself one friend shorter…"

One friend shorter. _Allegro and Apple…Damn…Who else do I have?_

_No one, _he thought.

XXX

Maybe Apple would still be on his side. Maybe she'd show mercy to his cold, freezing self. Sleeping alone in a dark cave with no sleeping bag is difficult. Chung was already frozen to the bone, and it was only 2 hours into the night.

"Psst, Apple." Chung crawled over to her bag, shaking her. She woke up immediately.

"Can you-"He paused. He didn't want this to sound too wrong. Oh, hell with it! Whatever he does, it's _definitely_ going to sound wrong! If they were still friends, though, that wouldn't matter, right? "Can you share your sleeping bag with me? It's really cold, and I'm sure we'd both fit…" Chung couldn't help but flush at the thought. _Well, at least one part of me is warm…_

It was hard to tell, but Chung was sure Apple narrowed her eyes,"Prince of Hamel Chung, you've changed. Too much, for the worse. You've hurt me and Allegro, and that new attitude of yours-"Apple sighed.

"You sound like my mother." Chung frowned.

"Maybe I do. By the way, she is insanely worried about you. Anyway, my answer is no. You've gotten too douchey over these last days." Apple shook her head, rolling over.

The Douchebag of Hamel sat there, gaping at the Princess of Altera, for hours.

* * *

**A/N: Derp! Apparently, a lot of people wanted me to update, including Kayuki, so…here it is!**

**Excuse the crappy ending, it's the best I could think of/shot**

**Okay, okay, I should have included zeroing and shooting and all that crap, but whatever. This is good too, right?**

**Chung was originally supposed to have a super-friendly fluffy moment here with Apple, but it turned into hate…Oh well. He'll grow out of his douchiness, probably…**

**Argh! Review! Review! They're so nice~ unlike limericks…**

**Meanwhile, I must plan how to befriend my own douchebag…**

**-Zenya**

* * *

***facepalm* okay, okay. What the actual fudge. What the freaking hell happened to Chung? JUST WHAT THE FRICKING HELL HAPPENED?! He's all nice and innocent and then BAM. He's a moody asshole who suddenly knows of blackmail, swear words, and stripping. Just...oh God...sweet baby Jesus. Maybe it's just me, but Toma is acting kind of weird...*coughcoughflirtingcough* I mean, winking, offering random sticks on the floor. Gosh. This chapter...this chapter...Uhg. Nevermind. Well, if you guys are still reading this after Chung's immense mood swing, please R&R, point out any typos or grammatical errors or whatever. Hope you enjoyed reading the chapter. Now the big question is; how will I reverse the douchey transformation Zenya has put Chung through?**

**-Kayuki**

**PS - I ALMOST forgot.**

***Question of the Chapter: What do ****_you_**** think happened to Chung?**

**I think Chung spent one too many hours with Richian.**

**Leave your comments in the section below. /killed. I mean leave your comments in the review box below, then click review. (I've been watching ****_way_**** too many Youtubers lately...)**


	8. Chapter 8

**MA GAWD! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! HOLY CRAP! 10 reviews, 12 favourites, 16 follows (in total)! Do you have any idea how big those numbers are to us?! Well, they're really big numbers, just saying. Anyway, I'd like to thank the four awesome people who reviewed on the previous chapter!**

**-DerpyKanshii**

**-Kitty (HelloKitty55443)**

**-Rinkushido**

**-FANG ee**

**Okay, before you guys all kill me with pitchforks and guns and whatnot, I'm sorry. The words were hating on me and wouldn't cooperate and now...well, if it's crappy you'll know why ._.**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Chung sat alone in the corner of the cave, shivering. What happened to him? Since when did he start swearing? Since when did he become so…so…much of a jerk? The questions just wouldn't stop running through his head. But the main question was – _what was military camp doing to him?_ It was changing him for the worse.

He covered his eyes with his hands. He couldn't take it anymore – what if this was really who he was and military camp was only bringing out his true self? His fingers tore at his hair.

"I don't know who I am anymore…" He choked out as his vision blurred with all the tears. "I'm so alone…"

_I miss you, Eve._

XXX

The next morning, Chung awoke to a warm, fuzzy fabric draped on his body. It was a blanket. He felt terrible – more physically than mentally. He could've sworn he saw Eve waving at him from the cave's opening. He blinked and she was gone. He tried to sit up, but he felt so dizzy and his head hurt. He groaned.

Suddenly, something attacked him. Chung pushed it off him and he looked at it. It was about the size of a gym bag and smelled like meat. Chung shook his head, but the smell was still there. He sniffed the air and realized it was coming from the bag. He unzipped the bag and dumped all the containments out – a giant sausage.

Chung's mouth watered. He was surprised he made through the previous day on only crackers, bread and a bit of water, but before him was a _giant sausage_! Chung jumped at the giant sausage, gnawing at it.

XXX

Valak stared at the Prince of Hamel. He had the most weirded out look on his face anyone could possibly muster.

He stared at Chung, disgusted. "What the hell…" He had thrown a bag of guns at the kid to wake him up and now he's trying to _eat_ the guns. What is wrong with his generation of kids?

XXX

Eve skipped a rock over the surface of the ocean. She and Chung used to go to the outskirts of Hamel all the time just to skip rocks. The rock bounced twice before plopping into the water with a _splosh!_ Eve sighed. Oh well, she was never the good one at skipping stones anyway.

She stared out over the horizon. There were always dark clouds looming near the west oceans. Well, ever since demons started showing up more frequently. Before the demons came, Hamel was a happy and danger-free place. The oceans were always beautiful and sparkling, but it seems that the oceans have lost their glint.

Eve kicked off her shoes and socks and walked to the shallowest part of the ocean, just enough so that her toes could get wet. As the waves chased her up and down the sandy shore, she got more and more into the game she was playing with herself.

Before she knew it, she was smiling and laughing. She hadn't laughed or smiled since Chung left. Upon realizing this, Eve quickly stopped. She was about to go put on her shoes and socks, but something about the water made it seem welcoming. _Well, if I play just a bit more won't hurt, right?_

Instead of running up and down the shore with the cold ocean water teasing her toes, like before, she walked into the ocean until the water was up to her knees. The water was cold, but it helped her forget all her worries and troubles at the same time.

Just as Eve was about to walk back onto shore, she felt a hand enclose around her ankle. Instinctively, Eve screamed and fell backwards, landing into the water.

"Help! Let me go!" Eve shrieked. "HELP!" Suddenly, ice started crawling up her leg and when Eve tried to tear the ice off, it spread to her hands.

"Someone help!" Eve yelled again. The thing pulled Eve underwater and she couldn't breathe. Her lungs were burning and she felt light-headed from the lack of oxygen.

Eve tried to pry off the hand with her other hand before the ice completely enveloped her. The ice had already frozen the left side of her face, numbing that part of her face. Not before long, the darkness consumed her along with the coldness of the sea.

* * *

_"Eve…" A familiar voice called._

_ "5 more minutes, Mom," Eve mumbled, unconsciously._

_ "Eve, you have to wake up," Eve's eyes fluttered open. Gold met turquoise and Eve's heart skipped a beat. She reached up and placed a hand on his cheek._

_ "Is it really you?" He smiled sadly, removing her hand from his cheek._

_ "Only if you want me to be,"_

_ "…what's that supposed to mean?" Eve searched his eyes for some kind of meaning in his words, but she couldn't find anything._

_ "I don't know, but you need to wake up, now," He pulled her into a warm embrace and he kissed her forehead just as the light enveloped them._

* * *

"Wait!" Eve shouted, shooting up in the bed. The person at the door turned around. She was a woman with graying brown hair and a clip board in hand, she was also wearing a doctor's coat so Eve just assumed she was the doctor.

"Ah," She said, "you're awake. Is there anything you need?"

"Uh…n-nothing," Eve mumbled. The doctor smiled.

"Alright, then, I'll be back soon to give you a quick check up," She said, walking out of Eve's room. Eve looked around. The whiteness of the room was unfamiliar with her. Her hands gripped the sheets and she fell back onto the pillow. Eve groaned. "My God, even in my dreams he's stupid!" She smacked her hands onto her face, feeling a burning pain on her left arm.

Eve sat up and examined her left arm – a bloody gash running down from her shoulder to her wrist. Eve's small frame shook and tears blurred up her vision, but she couldn't look away from the gash. She clamped her right hand over her eyes, sobbing. It hurt a lot and the way it looked frightened her.

_I'm scared, Chung._

XXX

Aisha and Ara sat in the hospital lobby.

"Do you think she's okay? Is she losing lots of blood? Is she severely injured?" Ara rambled.

"Ara, calm down, she'll be fine." Aisha said, trying to calm down her worried friend. "Eve's a good person, so God definitely won't let her die this way,"

"But, but, but what if –" Ara tried to protest but Aisha cut her off.

"God will not let Eve die like this," Aisha said. "He will show mercy on Eve, and help her pull through this, you too," Ara bit her bottom lip and dug her fingernails into her palms.

"O…okay," Ara murmured, hesitantly. "Anyway, where's Rena? Did you tell her about Eve?" Aisha nodded.

"I'm sure she'll be here soon," Aisha reassured.

"She better be," Ara choked out. "I was there for her when Jun took Chung without her knowing –" Ara instantly clamped her hands over her mouth upon realizing what she just accidentally said. Aisha stared at her friend in disbelief.

"You knew this whole time?" Aisha asked. Ara stayed silent. "You knew this whole time, yet you never told Rena?" Ara tried to explain, but no words would come out. "How could you do something like that to her? You know how worried she is about him! So why would you keep his location a secret to her?!" Aisha was standing now, yelling at her friend.

"Aisha, calm down, we're in a hospital –"

"No, _you_ calm down! You were always the one to make good choices, but maybe that was taken along with him when _he left you_!" Aisha spat. Ara was now standing as well.

"This has nothing to do with him!"

"Excuse me, madams," A nurse interrupted. "But if you two do not quiet down, I'll have to ask you two to leave," Ara sat back down. Aisha just shook her head at Ara.

"I'm leaving," Aisha muttered, her body vaporizing into a shower of sparkles with a wave of her staff. Shortly after, Eve's doctor approached Ara.

"Miss Ara, right?" Ara nodded. "Come this way, please," As they walked, Eve's doctor spoke.

"Your daughter will be fine, however she will need stitches for her arm," The doctor paused, almost like she was hesitant to say this, "but we're not sure if the stitches will be enough though, so just for precautions, we'll need her to stay in the hospital until further notice, alright?" Ara reluctantly nodded. The doctor smiled. "I'm glad you understand, ma'am." She opened the door to Eve's room and Ara stepped in to see Eve crying.

Ara rushed to her daughter and wrapped her into a hug. She patted her back.

"Are you okay, honey?" She asked as Eve cried.

"Y-yeah," Eve stammered. Ara stroked Eve's hair as she waited for Eve to calm down.

"You feeling better now?" Eve gave a stiff nod.

"What did the doctor say?" Ara held her daughter at arm's length and mustered her best smile.

"She said you'll be fine, you just need a few stitches and you'll be fine," Ara said. "Isn't that great? You'll be out of here in no time," Eve gave Ara a small smile.

"Yeah, I guess," She murmured. Ara didn't want to tell her daughter that she might have to stay here for more than a month, not in her condition, not now.

XXX

"He'll be here soon. Hide in a tree or something, Elsword," His older sister ordered. Elsword rolled his eyes and climbed up a tree, sitting on a branch. The leaves kept him hidden, but he could still see everything nearby.

His sister stood on the forest route, waiting for their most recent client to arrive for their trade. Not too long after their chat, a chubby business man arrived in a chariot. He stepped off of the chariot and approached Elsword's sister.

"Miss Elesis," He greeted, tipping his gray hat. Elesis responded with a cold look.

"Client," She replied. The man let out a hearty chuckle.

"Still as cold as ever I see; calling every one of your clients 'Client'," He said, lighting a cigarette and placed it in his mouth. Elesis swiped the cigarette away from him and crushed it under her boot.

"Enough small talk, my brother and I successfully stole the attribute stones you requested for, now pay up," Elesis commanded. "I expect you to pay us a great deal of coins. After all, attribute stones are only so common,"

"Reasonably, yes, handsomely, no," The man said, handing Elesis a bag of coins. _About 1000 ED,_ Elesis thought. She extended her hand for another bag. "Now, Miss Elesis, you mustn't be greedy," He scolded. "A filthy street child such as you and your brother must accept all you can get, never asking for more," Suddenly, a blade was being pressed against the man's throat from behind.

"Street child, hm," A voice said. "I don't think a street child would have a rich man, like you, almost pissing themselves now, would they?" The man shook.

"Okay! Take the money! Just d-don't hurt me!" The man shouted. Elesis smirked and grabbed every bag of ED the man had on him. Elsword kept his blade pressed against the man's throat.

"We don't mess around, _Client_," Elsword spat. He glanced towards his sister for approval before running the blade across the man's throat. "We don't need you running around telling everyone about our whereabouts,"

"You too, Mr. Chariot driver," Elesis said, stabbing the driver through the chest with her sword. Elesis grabbed the driver's coat and wiped his blood off of her sword with the fabric. She tossed it to Elsword and he wiped off their Client's blood off of his sword.

The duo ran off, deeper into the forest with bags of ED and attribute stones.

XXX

"So, what should we do with all this money? And what do we do with the attribute stones?" Elsword asked, observing an attribute stone in the sunlight as he leaned against a tree trunk.

Elesis shrugged, "I don't know, we could always take someone's cloak and go into town to buy some more suitable things as well as add an attribute to our weapons,"

"Huh, too bad our last Client didn't have a cloak. We could've gone in town and used these." Elsword said, putting the fire attribute stone back in the bag of attribute stones.

The two sat in silence for a moment, but then Elesis' head snapped up from her nap. Elesis looked at her brother, signalling for him to go up. The two climbed up a tree and hid behind the leaves of a branch.

The pounding of horse hooves became louder and louder. The two siblings watched as two women descended the chariot for a break.

"The Prince of Hamel has been gone for quite some time, don't you think?" The woman asked, pulling out two delicious-looking sandwiches and handed one to the other woman.

"Yeah, the Queen must be devastated. Her only son ran away from home and still hasn't returned. I mean, 3 months is a bit much," The other woman said before taking a bite out of her sandwich.

The duo in the trees smirked at this news. If they came across the Prince of Hamel in one of their trades, Hamel would surely give a handsome reward for the safe return of their prince. Another thing to look out for during their trades.

* * *

**I had originally planned for this chapter to be mainly focused on Elsword and Elesis, but I guess I threw in some unnecessary stuff about Eve, Chung and Ara and her buddies. Now, can't we just ALL picture Timone and Pumbaa as killers? I _totally_ can. not. Well I jacked up their characters. Remember how Chung was all douchy last chapter well, Zenya claims it's "important character development" so now you all know her excuse. I had to re-type this 5 times just because I wasn't content with the way the chapter turned out and I'm still not happy with it. And, um, just so you know, the thing that attacked Eve was a Laguz.**

**Just putting this out there, we're starting The Hero and The Stalker, acronym - THaTS. My only warning is that there's an excessive use of alcohol, drugs, and all that crap. Aaand it's strongly rated T, in my opinion at least. So, yeah, maybe go check that out. Shameless advertising. B) oh yeah. /killed.**

**Anyway, R&R please!**

**-Kayuki**

***Question of the chapter: If you were one of Elsword and Elesis' Clients, what would you ask them to steal/who to kill?**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Kayuki bugged me to do this, so I did.**

**Honestly, it was really boring and hard to type all about the military camp and junk, but I just grit my teeth and went with it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. Seriously. that was a lot of reviews.**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

_Zeroing was fun, _Chung thought. _I was finally able to use my destroyer again, although….What exactly happened? I lost pretty much all my friends; I can only hope Eve and I are still on good terms…_

Now the fun was over. Valak was putting the whole camp under intense physical training; drills, diets, and exercises of all sorts.

The alarm rang, as usual, signaling the beginning of the day. Chung groaned, jumping out of bed. Apple ignored him as he climbed down the cold ladder. Ever since they had that "fight", Chung and Apple had denied each other's existences. The boys then formed a single, neat line into the bathroom; each morning, everyone had to shave their faces and head to maintain a perfect, clean face and their buzz cut. If Valak saw someone with so much as a single hair on their face, or their hair on their head growing too long on one side, even by a centimetre, _everyone_ would be whipped. It had happened before when Richian was too lazy one day, and everyone went back to bed much sorer than usual. But Chung didn't understand why _he_ had to do all this. He was the youngest. He didn't _have_ any facial hair.

_Oh, that's right, that reminds me…Today is my birthday._ Chung grumbled on and on about how life wasn't fair and how he had to experience this every day, earning him some puzzled looks from the other soldiers.

Once Valak entered the room, and everyone lined up in front of their beds, everyone looked the same. Chung hated that. He couldn't tell some people from others. Once he thought Daisy was Stella; he had walked up to Daisy, started lecturing her about manners, threw in some insults, and all he got for it was another bruise on his cheek.

"Oh, it seems like it's our Little Prince's birthday today! Is it right, Princey?" For some reason, Valak took the habit of calling Chung "Princey" instead of the regular "soldier", like he called everyone else by.

"…Yes, sir." Chung said. It took all of his discipline not to hang his head in humiliation.

"Then, come on, everyone! Sing the Prince Happy Birthday!" Valak ordered. Even though we're all supposed to follow his orders, no one did, except Apple, which made Chung feel even worse. She didn't mind at all that no one was joining her. _I wonder if she still hates me…_You'd think you'd know someone pretty well after 7 months; ironically, Chung knew Apple the least, despite her being the first one he met.

Valak laughed. "See how many friends you got?"

"We're not friends." Apple glared in my direction. _Look how many rules she's breaking! _Chung mentally scolded Apple.

"That's right, sorry I'm not so up-to-date with all the radical social events. Whatever, you may all head to breakfast now." Valak ordered. Everyone rushed to the cafeteria.

"Hey, squirt, how old are you now, 2?" Stella and Richian laughed as they took a tray from a table.

"I'm 12…"Chung muttered.

"And I'm 18, so what?" Stella spat.

"How did someone as worthless as you get here at this age, anyway?" Richian said.

"It's like seeing an average, stupid, little 7th grader in a 12th grade classroom." Stella snickered.

"Well then, doesn't that mean it's even more embarrassing when the 12th graders realized the average, stupid, little 7th grader was smart enough to actually put on his gear properly?" Chung glared. Richian gritted his teeth. His raised his fist, just when Apple stepped him.

"I bet you people are just all jealous of all the talent he has. Don't be mean to him on his birthday!" Apple warned.

"Get out of here, Apple! I don't need you anymore, I can fight by myself!" Chung hissed. He wasn't the same old helpless kid from the first day he arrived. "You actually think I still need your help? You think I can't handle anything? I'm capable of doing things on my own, even if I'm _younger_. I didn't get the best score when we were zeroing for nothing." That was technically a lie; both Apple and he had scored perfect, but since Chung was younger, wouldn't that mean he's more able than Apple?

"That really wasn't fair. You're a Prince; you had training _before_ hand, from the King himself!" Stella pouted. "You too, Apple! You royals are obviously going to score higher than us at these things, but not fairly! You realize we come from families who couldn't even afford to get us a simple pistol, let alone a mentor to teach us?!" Chung suddenly felt an incredible sense of guilt. _I felt so proud succeeding, but I guess that wasn't so fair, was it? It was almost like cheating…_

The cook threw an apple at Chung's face, bringing him back to reality.

"Hurry up, kid!" The cook snarled.

"Sorry."

XXX

_Today is Chung's birthday…_

_If only I could give him something…_

_No! No! No! I'm supposed to hate him now! Stupid Chung! Ugh!_

_How dare he get older without me here? How dare he get older than me?!_

"Are you alright, Miss Eve?" The nurse asked, handing her a glass of water.

"Yes, I'm fine." Eve lied.

XXX

"Do we really have to do _this?_" Elsword groaned.

"Yes, we do! It's all we can do!" Elesis snapped. Of course they had robbed and killed the women from the chariot, but then Elesis had commanded them both to go into town wearing their dresses.

"I don't even look like a girl…"Elsword muttered.

"You're right, maybe I shouldn't have chopped off your hair last month." Elesis said. "Oh well, the makeup sure helps. Anyway, some women have short hair all the time, so don't worry about it."

"This thing doesn't even fit me!" Elsword complained.

"Fine!" Elesis unsheathed her sword, and slashed the long sleeves and silks away so that the dress only came up to just where his ankles and wrists were. "It's a bit sloppy, but who cares? Come on, I think we're almost at Dicey Sky Road. There we can use these attribute stones and maybe set a store."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Elsword rolled his eyes. "Let's just get moving."

A few hours later, Elsword and Elesis were greeted by a strange, old lizard man. "Helloo and welcome." Though his words were welcoming, he eyed the siblings suspiciously.

"Yeah, thanks. Do you know where we would be able to find the town alchemist?" Elesis asked.

"I believe you two look familiar…" The lizard man stroked his beard thoughtfully.

Elesis subconsciously touched the messy bun in her hair. "You didn't answer my question."

"I'm the town alchemist; Chacha Buch." He bowed. Elesis mentally gagged at his Bethmanian accent.

"Here." Elsword shoved the bag of attribute stones at the lizard man's chest. "Would you mind applying these to our weapons?" Before Chacha Buch could open his mouth, Elsword continued, "And don't think of stealing our weapons or anything, got that?" He glared.

"My, my, you're such a feisty little girl, eh?" Chacha Buch laughed.

"Look, we're just here to make business. Oh, and we'd like poison attributes, thanks. Come by that inn," Elesis pointed to a small, homely inn next to the market, "when you're done. Thanks." Elesis shoved the swords into the alchemist's hands before they both set off.

XXX

_For 7 months the kid has been gone. He'll be back in about 2 months…_

Seated in the conference room, around the large table were 10 individuals. Though some of them were doubtful, most of them were hand-picked; the best Raven could find.

At the head of the table sat none other than Raven Seiker, with his most trusted comrades, Uselesspieceofshitnoswag(1) and Evenmoreuselesspieceofshitnoswag, to his left and right respectively. Raven banged his fist onto the table, immediately ending all chatter.

"The time we've all, or at least most of us, have been waiting for is almost upon us, my friends. What I'm about to tell you is for your ears only, whatever you hear and say in this room doesn't leave it, because if the enemy somehow finds out about this plan, I'll see that you all die." Raven glared.

"O-o-o-okay…" Derpyswag stammered.

"Recently Datdemonswag has reported we've reached 10 000 demon soldiers after searching all of Elrios. Most of them are on our side. At least, they _all_ will be once this war breaks out." Raven smirked. "Painfulswag, how's Chung?"

"I have to admit, he scored perfect on his zeroing test. He's starting to get better." Painfulswag said.

"That's a shame." Raven sighed. "Here's how we'll start this: Painfulswag, Bloodyswag and Nasodswag, you'll be in the front lines and start the attack. The three of you will enter the Fountain of Healing, and start attacking anyone with no mercy. All the guards, as well as Penensio, should come for you for your crime against destroying a "holy sanctum". When they arrive, Witchydarkevol(2)swag will appear and trap them with her Phantom Breathing. Nasodswag, make sure no harm comes to Witchydarkevolswag. Witchydarkevolswag will continue to trap anyone that comes within range. Bloodyswag and Painfulswag-"

"Why do I always have to work with that bastard…" Bloodyswag murmured.

"Because I say so, okay?!" Raven snapped. "Anyway, Bloodyswag and Painfulswag will terminate everyone in a cage. The King of Hamel will send out his army. This is when you'll send out yours; the demons will arrive along with Datdemonswag, Uselesspieceofshitnoswag, Evenmoreuselesspieceofshitnoswag, and Spazzyshitswag. Derpyswag and Oldguyfromsanderswag, you'll stop all trade IMMEDIATELY. Derpyswag…"Raven paused, taking in the poor, shivering, young girl at the end of the table. "You're willing to do this, right?"

"Only because you're making me…"She whispered. "I'd be dead either way!"

"Great…" Raven nodded. "Nasodswag, you will then leave Witchydarkevolswag be, and help Derpyswag evade around everyone's attack. When a soldier of Hamel clashes with Bloodyswag, Derpyswag will be placed among them. The soldier of Hamel will not see Derpyswag coming, for she will be cloaked with the help of Nasodswag, and the soldier will end up killing Derpyswag. The soldier will realize he's killed an innocent bystander, and will be "forever ashamed". Witchydarkevolswag will then create several "projections" between other clashes that other soldiers of Hamel will "kill". They'll realize how many innocent people they've killed, and will most likely flee. But if they do not, Bloodyswag will Shadow Step across the area, using his Wolf Fang and Bloody Accel to scare them off." Raven paused to breathe. "If that still doesn't work, Painfulswag will use Nuclear to wipe out the entire area, but only as a last resort. If this is to happen, Nasodswag will take Witchydarkevolswag, Datdemonswag, Spazzyshitswag, Uselesspieceofshitnoswag, Evenmoreuselesspieceofshitnoswag and herself out of range as quickly as possible, and Bloodyswag has agreed to continue fighting, even if it means his death. The soldiers will run to their king and report what has happened; thus, creating the war." Raven explained.

"How are you sure this is all to happen? You can't exactly predict the moves of the enemy so easily." Evenmoreuselesspieceofshitnoswag muttered, running a hand across the scar on her face.

"Trust me, I know Hamel, I know the Army of Hamel, and I know the King of Hamel, better than any of you could."

"When are we doing this?" Witchydarkevolswag yawned.

"Next week, I believe." Raven replied.

"Ah, I see. That's when I have to start the blue phase at that stupid military camp I go to." Painfulswag said.

"Okay, I'm just going to say it, does he _have_ to be here?" Bloodyswag growled, pointing at Painfulswag.

"Oh, so you don't like my company? What have I ever done?" Painfulswag smirked.

"When we first met you started randomly attacking me!" Bloodyswag grit his teeth.

"Aww, I'm glad you remembered!" Bloodyswag unsheathed his sword, and in an instinct he was on the table, in front of Painfulswag's seat, his silver blade pressed against Painfulswag's throat. Not like Painfulswag cared; he had a piece of armor _everywhere_. In response,Painfulswag's arm reached for Bloodyswags throat when Batshitswag flew in between, biting both of their arms. Sure, it didn't hurt at all; they both had armor on their arms, but it was enough to stop them.

"Tsk tsk. You kids are seriously _so_ silly!" Witchydarkevolswag giggled.

XXX

Chung was excepting something. He didn't know why, he was just expecting _something; _a gift, a letter, a punch to the face, even death, yet he didn't know what exactly he was expecting. He just felt something would happen.

No, Chung didn't mean the test. The test was actually okay. Though his timing in the obstacle course was terrible, and he was the worst in his troop at hand-to-hand combat ("Really? How can you lose to a wooden dummy?" Stella had laughed), Chung was excellent at the shooting portions. _Though Apple was good at everything,_ Chung thought with a grimace.

The night began with a shift of fire guard duty.

"I shouldn't have signed up to do the fire guard duty with you…" Chung muttered. Once again, Apple was with him. She ignored him. "Hey-"

"We're not supposed to be talking. If Sir Valak catches us, we'll be dead." Apple said bluntly. _Oh, so she thinks she's funny now?_

Chung sighed. "Man, this is a crappy birthday, huh? No gifts, no friends, not even a cake…"

"That's the reality of the world, Prince of Hamel Chung Seiker." Apple glared. "You know what a reality is also? There are stalkers _everywhere_."

"Are you seriously still mad at me for that? Geez let it go! Don't act like nobody has offended you before…" Chung muttered.

"What would you know about emotions, anyway?!" Apple glared.

"Emotions?! You're a Nasod, aren't you? Those things are machines, they don't have emotions, and that's all you are; you're just a machine! You're not real; you don't even have a birthday!' Chung snapped. _I have a feeling I just made things worse._

"A-a-a-a machine?!" Tears started to swell in Apple's eyes. "Even if I was-Even if I _am_…God, Chung! That's so mean!" Apple didn't even slap Chung like she did last time; she huddled into a fetus position, staring at the ground.

_Nice, now I feel even worse_. Chung said nothing, and only moved when his shift was over.

XXX

"Unfortunately, you will all be moving on to Blue Phase." Valak sighed. Chung mentally did a victory dance. "Your final PT tests will be tomorrow, so start training!" He snaps. Everyone's eyes opened wide. _Tomorrow?! Already so soon…_

The PT tests came too soon, and Chung wasn't ready at all. _Calm down, Chung, breath…You can do this…you're better than all these people!_ All the soldiers lined up outside and Chung watched as all his fellow soldiers did their took mental notes: _Toma does good pushups. Stella does good situps. Apple is great at running._

_"_Chung Seiker." Chung did not like that sadistic smile on Valak's face when he was called.

Chung was surprised at how well he did. _70 pushups._ _68 situps._ The 2 mile run was what made Chung the most nervous. Having Valak run beside Chung holding a stopwatch with permanent smile on his face was too creepy. Luckily, he finished with an okay time of 13:30.

Though he knew Apple got perfect, Chung was satisfied with his score: 92%!

Eventually night-time came and everyone was found chatting in their beds about their scores.

"I got 90%! Not bad, eh?"

"Ugh, I got an 88%!"

"Damn, you beat me by 1%!"

"Chung, what was your score?"Chung was surprised to see that Apple was actually talking to him and in a normal tone at that.

"Only a 92%, but I bet you got 100%."

"98%..." Apple sighed. "Pushups are a bit too difficult for me."

"Whatever, you beat me, and that's that."

A huge _bang_ echoed across the walls as the doors slammed open to reveal the Lord of Pain Valak.

"Princey!" He yelled, pointing at Chung. _What does he want now? He isn't going to whip me, is he?! Is it because I was talking to Apple? Of course! That was the intention of Apple all along…Screw you Apple! _"Come with me outside."

_The night sky sure is beautiful tonight,_ Chung thought as he followed Valak. He stopped, turning around.

"What is it, Sir?" Chung asked.

Valak's response was a punch to the face. Literally. Chung cried out, carefully stroking the wound Valak had created with his damn Nasod arm.

"What was that?!" Chung yelled. He was hit again.

"You will only speak when spoken to." Valak said, "I thought you would have remembered that by now. Of course, it's not like that tiny brain of yours could remember much…Anyways, I just thought I'd tell you to watch out. Be careful. Danger lurks at every corner, even the nicest ones." Valak smirked before he left, leaving Chung staring into nothingness. That's it? Chung cursed under his breath, kicking a stray rock.

Looking up, Chung found it again. _There's that blue light…But it isn't a star, is it?_

XXX

"You have a visitor, Miss Eve." The nurse announced.

"Let them in."

The door creaked open as Aisha carefully took a step in. "Hello, Child, is, uh…Is everything alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine, it's just so _annoying _how I have to stay here in the hospital. I swear I've recovered!" Eve pouted.

"I don't think so." Aisha shook her head. "But this might _actually_ make you feel better."

Eve raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I have found Chung." Aisha whispered.

Meanwhile, a small explosion, though barely audible, could be heard in the distance…

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**(1) - Those are code names, btw. So, don't think those are actual names. We told you, no OCs in this one. We kinda overused OCs in our other story...**

**(2) - YAY! EMINEM HE BE COOL!**

**A/N: Derp ending is derp. But hey, this is kind of a longish chapter than what I usually write. Or at least longer than what I've been writing lately. Anyway, Kayuki told me how the whole time thing worked, and I spazzed when I realized we were already at ****_7 months._**** No shit, this plot has to get moving!**

**I admit, I could have done more with Eve, I mean, obviously she would have noticed Chung's birthday, and Eve could've ranted a whole lot about that, but I was getting kind of annoyed with the whole hospital atmosphere. Not that exciting, to be honest. But hey, we finally see from Raven after, what, 4 chapters or something? Hooray!**

**So, tell us what you think about this chapter that I wrote in one day! *feels like I have actually accomplished something***

**R&R!**

**-Zenya**

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**Yeah, yeah, don't act like you weren't bugging ****_me_**** about chapter 2 of THatS. =_=**

**Just in case anyone was wondering, no, I haven't been to military camp. I'm pretty sure I'm too young and I can barely heat up a bowl of rice with a microwave properly, much less survive military camp. I just did a lot of research.**

**So, yeah, I was kinda focused on editing the code names, so point out any typos for us! R&R please!**

**-Kayuki**

***Question of the Chapter: Which code name was your favourite?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Dang, we got more than 20 reviews in less than 10 chapters. You people are awesome U_U So, um, spare my life if this chapter is really that bad. I'm terrible with action scenes. I'm just good at making nothing happen at all. Thanks to everyone that reviewed the previous chapter! Also, we're in da DOUBLE DIGITS NAO!**

* * *

**.::Guest reviews::.**

**ChibiLove: We're glad that you're starting to like our story :D We're going to continue this for a while, making it really long. /shot. anyway, we can't really tell you who Eve's father is, but we'll try to leave less subtle hints. We're such trolls XD**

**Guest: Sure. Potatoes taste good.**

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**Chapter 10**

Eve's mouth was parched so she took a gulp of water from the glass of water on her bed stand.

"I don't think so," Aisha said, shaking her head. "But this might actually make you feel better,"

"What is it?" Eve asked, taking a drink.

"I have found Chung," Eve did a spit take all over Aisha. Aisha grimaced as she gingerly wiped the water and Eve's spit off of her face.

"You found _what_ now?!" Eve shrieked.

"I told you, I have found Chung – you know…your best friend who," Aisha paused as if hesitant to say so, "'ran away'…"

"I _know_ who Chung is," Eve said, setting her glass of water back on the bed stand. "But I can't believe you actually found him…where is he? I need to punch him in the face," Eve demanded. She kicked the covers off and detached all of the wires connected to her body. She was about to stand up, but Aisha made her sit back down.

"Eve, you're not fully recovered yet." Aisha said. "You may _feel_ like you're fully recovered, but feeling and being fully recovered are two very different things," Eve groaned as Aisha took the wires and connected them back onto her arms.

"I should've never gone to that stupid ocean," Eve grumbled, leaning back onto her propped up pillow.

"You were lucky I was taking a stroll on the west coast, I saved your life back there," Aisha said.

"Oh yeah…no one ever told me who saved me…I guess I should thank you…" Eve mumbled, feeling sleepy from the medicine pumping through one of the many wires.

"I'll let you have some rest," Aisha said, getting up.

"Wait," Eve called, drowsily. "When Chung comes back, tell him…tell him…" Before Eve finished her sentence, she had fallen asleep. Aisha smiled and left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

When Aisha entered the waiting room, she saw Ara. Aisha's eyes narrowed and she didn't even bother walking out; she just waved her staff and vanished. Just then, Ara's head snapped up, only to see a shower of fading sparkles. Ara sighed.

_She isn't going to forgive me, is she?_ Ara asked herself.

**_Not by a long shot,_**

"Miss Haan," The nurse called. Ara stood up and headed to the front desk. "You may now visit patient no.400 648, her previous visitor just left." Ara simply nodded and headed to Eve's hospital room.

XXX

There was the same cold feeling under his hands as he climbed up the ladder to his bunk above Apple's. He was tired and weighed down from the past few months' events. He rolled over and stuck his head under his bunk to see if Apple was still awake or not.

Apple's pale pink hair framed her face as she lay on her back like a Sleeping Beauty. Her eyes were closed and she seemed like she was breathing. Chung opened his mouth to speak, but Apple beat him to the chase.

"What do you want," She demanded coldly.

"I-I just–" Apple's pink eyes snapped open.

"You _what_, Chung," Apple snapped. "You _what_ – I'm a stalker? I'm a robot? I have no **feelings**?!" Apple yelled. Chung recoiled back at each word. Apple had seemed to have finally finished yelling at him.

"I-I just wanted to say I'm sorry," Chung said, sheepishly. "I've been a jerk lately and I…I don't know…You have every right to be mad at me, Apple, and I'm really sorry." Chung apologized. Apple stared at him with a straight face, so Chung couldn't really tell if she forgave him or not. "W-well, good night," Chung was about to pull the covers over him, but then suddenly an explosion shook the entire building, causing bits of debris to fall from the ceiling.

Stella shot up in her bunk.

"What the hell was that?!" She demanded. Just as she yelled, sirens went off, blaring throughout the entire building. Chung's hands flung over his ears.

"What's going on?" Chung yelled. Before he was given a proper answer, Apple grabbed his arm and ran out of the dorms. "H-hey!" Almost the exact moment Apple had gotten herself and Chung out of the room, a missile hit the dorms, sending the two flying.

Chung's arms flew over his head, to protect his skull. They landed face first a few feet away from the double doors to the dorms, which was set aflame now. Apple stood up and wiped the soot from her face. She reluctantly extended her hand to help Chung up. Chung just stared at Apple's extended hand, utterly confused.

"Well get up, we don't have all day," Apple said. Chung grinned and took her hand. "Our first priority is to try and get everyone out of the building –" Another explosion sent the building's weak structural points tumbling and to the ground.

Chung heard a crack nearby. He turned in the direction of the crack and it led him to the wall on their left.

"Apple, we should get out of here," Chung said, urgently. "Like, now."

"Our closest exit is blocked, Chung," Apple said. "And we never knew of any other exit,"

"Whatever! Just get to the weapon room!" Chung shouted, shoving Apple down the hall. Not too soon after Chung had gotten Apple to budge, the wall and a good chunk of the ceiling came crashing down on the spot the two were a few minutes ago. "Keep going!"

XXX

Jun was peacefully asleep, but then a sudden rumble of the building along with the loud roar of the sirens had him wide awake. He instantly ran out of his quarters and scanned the area. There was a burly cloud of gray smoke emerging from the other end of the building – the dorms.

Jun cussed under his breath as he ran back into his office and quickly grabbed his sword since he was already in his armor. He sprinted to the dorms as fast as he could, hoping that Chung was alright.

As Jun ran, another bomb hit the building, also near the dorms.

"Shit!" He ran even faster towards the dorms. On his way, he ran into two soldiers. He glanced at them and recognized the tall girl was one of the people his son talked to quite a bit. "You, do you know where my son is?"

"If you mean" – Stella coughed into her arm from the inhalation of all the smoke – "Chung then I think he's still near the dorms," The boy that Stella was helping escape was out cold and he had a chemical burn on his right cheek, spreading to his eye.

"Thank you," He muttered briefly then continued towards the dorms, ignoring all the other soldiers until he saw Chung.

XXX

"What the _hell_, Alex!" Raven yelled in his friend's face. "I told you to _not_ bomb the goddamn building! How stupid are you?!"

"But that way, they'll be unpre –" Alex tried to reason.

"Yeah, but this way, they'll also have time to get their stupid weapons!" Raven scowled. "God, this is why your code name is Uselesspieceofshitnoswag!" Alex recoiled and tucked the remote control detonator in his pocket.

"Jeez, Raven, Seris and I are trying our best to help you," Alex said, irritated. "The least you could do is try to tolerate us,"

"Yeah, well your best isn't enough!" Alex frowned.

"Fine, you can do this yourself," He said. "If we're 'not good enough' for your retarded group, you can do it yourself," Alex said. "Come on, Seris, we're going," Raven crossed his arms and smiled smugly.

"And where exactly are you two _hobos_ going to go?"

"Back to Bethma," Seris retorted. "Asshole,"

"Sure you are," Raven said, sarcastically. Alex and Seris hopped off the roof of the building they were standing on and headed towards the port. "Idiots, the plan has already been executed, they won't make it back to Bethma in time,"

XXX

"Retard, you ready?" Edan demanded.

"As ready as ever," Valak said, "to slit your throat," He added under his breath.

"_What_?"

"Nothing,"

"I _heard something_!"

"Just –"

"Shut up you two!" Q-Proto yelled. The two men instantly stopped arguing, unless they wanted to look like a clump of cow manure the next morning. "Alright, we're in the clear, go!"

They jumped off the roof and landed near the Fountain of Healing.

"You guys might want to stand back a bit," Q-Proto said as she stretched.

"Like hell am I letting you get the first hit!" Valak shouted. "Wild Charge!" He ran straight at the fountain, preparing to smash it to bits. Valak began rapidly punching the fountain, which wasn't…all that effective. Only bits of the fountain came off.

"Wow, Valak, that's some damage dealer you got there," Edan said sarcastically. "Now, stand back and watch the pro do it. Shockwave!" A sonic shockwave was sent, flying directly at the fountain. Large chunks detached itself from the fountain. "Huh, that didn't do as much damage as I thought it would've,"

"Hornet Sting!" Q-Proto shouted.

"Shit!" Valak shouted, diving behind a pillar. Edan followed suit. While Q-Proto blasted the fountain the bits, a guard – a newbie it seems– finally saw them destroying the Fountain of Healing. The guard ran back into the building, yelling for back-up and that people were destroying the Fountain of Healing.

By the time Penensio and the rest of the guards arrived, the fountain was already crushed to dust. The look on Penensio's face was priceless, at least according to Valak it was. He never liked that goody-two shoe.

"YOU BASTARDS," Penensio roared. "THAT FOUNTAIN WAS SUPER HOLY! BE PREPARED TO DIE AND GO TO HELL! ATTACK!" Penensio and the guards charged at the trio, screaming. Q-Proto giggled and tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"This is going to be too easy," She murmured to herself. "Atomic Blaster!" She pointed her machine gun upwards and fired multiple times. The bullets blasted into the sky, rained down on the guards.

Penensio raised his large shield over his head to protect him from the raining bullets as did several of the other guards, but majority of the guards got shot somewhere. A few were already dead since they received a bullet to the brain.

Valak managed to get in a few punches before he, Edan and Q-Proto had to go into hiding. Slowly, a giant violet vortex-like item appeared, sending the guards into a frenzy of confusion. The vortex eventually faded and was replaced by a giant Angkor, trapping the guards.

Speka drifted down from the roof of one of the houses nearby, floating down with a dim cloud of sparkles beneath her feet.

"Did I miss anything?" Speka asked as she floated towards the trio, who were watching the struggling guards. Q-Proto pointed her machine gun at Speka.

"Whoa there, Proto, I didn't mean to offend you that much," Speka said, waving her hands in front of her. Q-Proto fired and Speka flung her hands in front of her face, although it wouldn't do anything.

Speka heard a choking noise behind her and the clanking of metal against concrete. Q-Proto lowered her machine gun.

"You should really pay attention to your surroundings, Speka," Q-Proto said. Valak and Edan had already charged at the trapped soldiers, killing with no mercy.

Q-Proto and Speka followed out with their part of the plan; Speka continuously casted Phantom Breathing on the group where majority of the guards were, making most of the guards useless, and Q-Proto blasted any guard that was free from the clutches of Phantom Breathing.

XXX

Jun had managed to gather most of the soldiers, since a few were lost in the bombing.

"Alright, whoever is attacking us is asking for war, and we'll give them a war – a war that they'll _lose_." Jun said.

"But, Sir, we're not fully trained, we've yet to learn the Blue phase," Apple interjected.

"You've learned most of what you need to know, you know how to zero and group and you know what to do if they send out any type of gas. Just make the most out of what you already know," Jun said. "Go!" The king of Hamel knew that since he was short a few soldiers he'd have to take part in this as well. He grabbed a rifle and made sure that his trusty sword was at his side before running out into battle along with the other soldiers.

Jun glanced at his son. _I made a promise to him, and I will not let him get hurt._

XXX

By the time all the guards were killed, the four of them were covered in blood, save for Speka, she just casted Phantom Breathing multiple times. Raven turned to speak to his demon friend.

"Ran, change of plans, you're going to be leading our army out with only yourself and Camilla. Alex and Seris bailed on us," Raven said, staring straight ahead. "I can spot my brother's army advancing, send them out now," Ran nodded and swiftly vanished. "I'll crush Jun, and then we'll see who's strongest, who has the riches, who has the attention, and of course, who has the power," Raven's hand closed around the hilt of his sword at his side and followed after Ran.

XXX

The screech of a wyvern grew louder as it flew towards Luriel. She pushed up her glasses as the wyvern landed on her desk, cawing and squawking. Luriel untied the ribbon attaching the letter to its leg.

_Burn them._

_ -Oldguyfromsanderswag_

Luriel crushed the paper in her hand and grabbed the set of keys and headed to the incinerator. She opened the door to the incinerator and a huge wave of heat hit her, it was almost enough to scare her out of doing this. Luriel inhaled deeply and chucked the keys into the incinerator, melting them due to the strong heat, along with the message and ribbon.

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**Sorry the past few chapters I've written were so short and derpy. I was supposed to make it longer and more violent and better in general, but my brain doesn't want to go to a party with the words. :I Stupid brain.**

**Well, the plan is being executed! And Raven is a power-obsessed freak, but it's a trait every antagonist has, right? I mean the antagonist is either obsessed with getting richer, more well-know, and of course getting more power. It's like a vitality for antagonist, unless you're cool and you're super original and the antagonist has a different reason for being evil ._.**

**Also, we finally get to see something from Jun's PoV, although it's super short and crappy.**

**R&R please!**

**-Kayuki**

***Question of the Chapter: Guess what the keys Luriel threw in were for!**


	11. Chapter 11

The Runaways Chapter 11

**A/N: asdfghjkl I love that last chapter Kayuki! :D Don't be too hard on yourself!**

**Ohh, so much to write about! I'm already excited! Let's see if we can do a double update… (Yeah, no)**

**Oh my, thank you for all the reviews! :D We never expected the get even ****_this_**** much so early(ish) on…**

**Asdfghjkl action scenes .**

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Luriel quickly slammed the incinerator door shut, coughing. She rushed over to her desk and took out a quill, furiously writing a reply.

_It's done._

_-Derpyswag_

Luriel attached the letter to the wyvern's leg and watched it fly out the window. _I don't know why I'm doing this. This is evil…Does that mean when this is finally over, I'll go to Hell? I should've just let that man kill me instead of agreeing to him. At least it would have been more honourable than this…_

The glint of the silver blade on her desk caught Luriel's eye. She shakily reached for it. She's thought of this before. She wanted to do this. So how come she didn't have the courage to do so? After all, it would ruin Raven's plan, and good would triumph…

She felt the cold steel in her hand, testing it against the palm of her other hand. She flinched at the pain, but didn't cry out. A new slash formed across her palm, along with many others. If she could cut her hands, then why couldn't she slit her throat? Anger flared inside Luriel as she chucked the blade to the ground, creating a small red stain as metal and metal clashed. _I'm a coward. No wonder my codename is Derpyswag!_

Luriel grumbled under her breath as she walked past every vault, her shiny black shoes creating loud _clank! _Her palm was still bleeding, and yes, it hurt, but she didn't care. _In a couple hours, I'll die anyway_. She opened the huge, steel door at the end of the hallway with difficulty, leaving more red stains on the handle.

_I have to head to Hamel soon, don't I?_ Luriel sighed as she walked past Ariel, who was writing away with that beautiful quill of hers, at her desk, in the lobby.

"Luriel, where are you going? Already two people have written asking for a deposit into their bank accounts." Ariel called. Luriel stopped in her tracks.

_I'm going to die._

"Well, you see-"Luriel stammered.

_I'm going to die._

"Come on, you know Cobo Services aim to please, and these customers don't seem very pleased." Ariel said, scowling at the pieces of parchment on the desk next to her.

_I'm going to die._

"I…"

_I'm going to die._

_"_-Screw you." Luriel muttered, dashing out the doors of Cobo Services Inc. Luriel didn't even look back at that huge white building- the one that had caused Luriel so much annoyance.

Right now, she had to get to Hamel as soon as she could, because she was going to die.

XXX

"Hey, Dafarr, I need some-"Vapor started before Dafarr interjected her.

"No sales today, grandma." Dafarr said.

"What?! But I really need some-"Vapor said before Dafarr glared, silencing her.

"I told you, I'm not selling today, grandma. Ask no further questions." Dafarr continued to shuffle throw Sander's strong winds before he heard Vapor call out,

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME GRANDMA! IT'S SISTER!" Dafarr ignored her, walking towards his kiosk at the town square. "What are you doing there?" Vapor saw Dafarr snatch a few boxes of matches before he quickly turned to face her again.

"I can use my own equipment, can't I?" Dafarr chuckled. "Shouldn't you be at home like everyone else? The Great Fire is in a couple hours, you should be getting ready."

"That's why I came to you! I need some materials for my new invention!"

"No sales today." Dafarr repeated. Vapor pouted, before finally giving up and heading to her hut at the outskirts of Sander.

Making sure no one saw, Dafarr quickly stroke a match, throwing it at one of the other kiosks at the market, watching it rise up in flames. _At least I'm not like that little blonde kid, _Dafarr snickered. _I have the same job as her, yet a _lot_ more fun, and without death!_ One by one, each kiosk in the market of Sander sprouted into flames, including his own. He took out a piece of parchment and messily scribbled down a note, before chucking it at a nearby wyvern.

_Sander is done. Commence with Ruben._

_-Oldguyfromsanderswag_

The wyvern quickly flew off, the message attached to its claws, sealed by a ribbon.

XXX

"Camilla." Ran greeted, meeting the ebony haired fighter at Noah's Grave. The army of demons, which he had gathered earlier, stood beside her. Surprisingly, it didn't seem like she was intimidated by them at all.

"Yo, Ran, where is Alex and Seris?" Camilla narrowed her eyes. "They didn't get killed, did they?"

"Worse. They quit, they bailed on us." Ran cursed under his breath.

"Bullshit. I thought those guys had our backs?" Camilla shook her head. "Whatever. Esmeralda over here-or whatever its name is-," Camilla pointed to a demon behind her, "she found someone, apparently. She says he'll help us a lot. I bet he'll be able to make up for more than Alex and Seris ever brought." A tall man with silver hair stepped forward; a black mask covered his face, with only one golden eye visible. "His name is Gerald."

"My name is _Glaive_." The man corrected himself, extending an arm to Ran. Ran glared at Glaive's gloved hand.

"How are we supposed to trust this guy?" Ran sneered.

"I don't know, but I already told him the whole plan, so we better trust him." Camilla shrugged. Ran mentally face palmed.

"Why would you even join us?" Ran turned to Glaive.

"I have some…'revenge' to deal with as well. But how am _I_ to trust you people with my background and history?" Glaive chuckled.

"Whatever, I guess you have a point there. Just don't screw up, kill us, bail on us, or whatever. Got that?" Ran asked.

"I'm not going to take orders from _you_." Glaive narrowed his eye. "I am going to do what I was told to do; go in there and fight. Simple as that." Before Ran could make a witty recovering, Glaive advanced forward, Camilla and the demon army following suit. _Oh, so the new guy suddenly has more power and respect than me?_ He sighed.

XXX

"Miss Rena!" Noel burst open her door, panting heavily. Rena glared daggers at him, while caressing a dolls blonde hair.

"What is it?!" she snapped. "Don't you see I'm with my son?!" All the servants knew Rena had gone mentally insane; it was pretty clear after about 3 months after Chung's departure. A doctor had visited, and after Rena had attacked, he had sewn a Chung doll; it had the same hair and clothes as Chung, yet was the size of normal doll that tiny girls would play with.

Noel stared awkwardly at the doll. "Er-Right, well, there's matters that you need to see to immediately."

"Such as what?"Rena sighed, laying the doll down on her bed.

"Terrorists have attacked!" Noel screamed.

"I don't care. Don't bother me with such useless matters. Now leave!" Rena ordered.

"But Your Majesty-"

"LEAVE. I must spend time with my son!" She snapped, shooing him out the door. Once Noel had left, Rena rushed back to her doll, brushing its hair. "Don't worry, my child." She whispered. "No terrorists can do anything to us."

Though no one had officially said it, everyone knew that Noel had taken over at the castle. With Rena being currently mentally ill, Noel was the only one who could take over while she was sick. Jun had named him the only Lord, and with Chung and Raven "gone", Noel had to deal with all the issues the king would usually do. He technically always asked Rena to deal with the royal duties, but since she always declined, he just did them himself. And really, nobody minded.

"Are you going to do anything about this, sir?" Helen, one of the maids, asked.

"Nope, Jun was always good at these kinds of things, anyway. He'll handle it, even if he's that far away." Noel shrugged, taking the tea that Helen had offered him. "Though no doubt Raven is behind this. He's always tried to take the throne, though secretly, of course. Only Jun and I knew of it, but I have to say it's quite surprising that he's taking this much action." If someone had seen Noel talk this way 7 months earlier, they would not have believed what he said. For Noel to talk with a noble and polite tongue wasn't common, at all. Fortunately, Noel had gotten rid of his past self; for Hamel, Rena, and most importantly, Jun.

XXX

The king of Hamel advanced toward The Fountain of Healing, or at least what was left of it. He grit his teeth. _Who would think of attacking Hamel? We're the greatest country in this land._ Jun glanced at his son. He knew he was nervous, but on the surface he looked calm and ready **(1).** Indeed, Chung was much more different than he was 7 months ago. Jun had received reports from Valak about how he was doing-it seemed he was fine, but looking into his son's eyes, he doubted that.

If Rena was here, she'd be able to fix that.

Suddenly, the ground erupted as a huge blast made contact with it. Jun and all the soldiers fell to the ground, tripping on their own feet. Before they had to a chance to get back up, the ground shook again.

"What's happening?!" Noah, one of the commanders, screeched.

Jun quickly jumped to his feet, implanting his feet into the ground. His eyes widened when he saw a giant missile launcher (_Is that Nasod technology?)_ not too many yards away.

"Blizzard Shower!" Noah called, sending several shards of ice to rain down onto the launcher. Before the shards came in contact, as quick as a lightning bolt, a black hole appeared in the middle of the field, sucking up the ice shards. Everyone screamed as they tried to escape the power of the black hole. Richian ran in the opposite direction, not like it did him any use. With the suction of the black hole, Richian looked like he was just running in place.

"Idiots." Jun muttered, unsheathing his sword and burying it deep in the ground, holding onto it for dear life. He watched as Chung screamed, but Jun knew he was safe. Chung's heavy armor and canon ought to weigh him down…_Right?_

Jun quickly extended his arm towards Chung. "CHUNG!" He yelled. Chung's head snapped in Jun's direction. He was still trying to escape the black hole, doing the same stupid method that Richian used. Chung reached out. _Yes…Maybe…I will be able to save him! Or at least, prevent any harm from running into him._

Jun never felt worse than at that moment when a pair of invisible hands snatched him away.

XXX

**(2) **Chung's eyes widened, yet he didn't scream. He didn't know _what_ had grabbed, or how, but right now he was admittedly scared. _Well, at least the black hole is gone. That's something._

His captor slapped a gloved hand on his mouth, and forcefully pulled him against their body. His captor then angled his head -again, forcefully- so that he was looking down. He couldn't move at all. _Damn, this person is strong._ Chung could hear Jun's distressed cries, yet he couldn't make out the words. Why wasn't Jun helping him?

Suddenly, he was in the air. Flying. Or rather, gliding. He kicked his legs but his assassin remained firm and stiff. He didn't know whether to panic or not. He had no control over wherever this _flying bird_ or whatever was going, and this person could drop him at any second. Chung tried the bite the hand of his assassin, yet all that happened was the bitter, leathery taste being left in Chung's mouth.

"Q-Proto!" A familiar voice called. His captor suddenly stopped, slowly rotating 360 degrees. Chung couldn't see what was happening, but he could guess his captor went by the name of "Q-Proto".

"I can't believe you." The same voice yelled. "You…You betrayed me!" Now there were hints of anger in that voice. The same anger that slapped him in the face every other day. Apple.

"Creator, leave now, or I will drop this child." Q-Proto said, in a monotonous voice.

"Go ahead!" Chung could hear the bitter hate in her voice, and he suddenly felt a little hurt. "I just can't believe you're _here_, helping _them."_

"Sir Raven had more to offer than you could." Q-Proto said, before she spun around again, and went full speed ahead. Chung watched various foot zoom by on the ground, and heard various gun-fires and screams. He tried to shut his eyes, but somehow, he couldn't do that. His eyes were glued to the ground.

Wait, no. Was he, right here, just _enjoying_ this? He shook his head of his thoughts. Chung could possibly die from this! No, it's guaranteed that Chung _will_ die from this.

He jerked his arms backwards, grabbing a hold of Q-Proto's face. She flinched, losing her grip on him enough to raise his head, rotate it slightly just to see-

Nothing.

Nothing was holding him; nothing was keeping him from falling. Nothing was there. He screamed as his arms and legs flailed around helplessly in front of him. His feet connected with her knee -she grimaced as her hold on him once more weakened, until Chung once more threw his arms backwards, grabbing a fistful of hair, and she let go.

They both screamed; one in fear, and one in pain. All that was keeping Chung from falling to his death, 500 ft down was Q-Proto's hair, and Q-Proto screeched as Chung slowly pulled out her hair. It was such an inhumane sound, Chung couldn't bear it.

_I have my armor, I can make it._

He released his grip.

It was a fast fall, he was glad of that. When he crashed against the ground, thousands of sears of pain coursed through his body, yet he didn't yell. He only realized then that he was biting his lip. No wonder he had a vile taste in his mouth; blood mixed with leather. Not a pleasant taste. For once in his life, Chung was glad his father had forged him this indestructible armor.

He stood up-Yes; he was defiantly _aching_ all over. Yet that didn't stop him. He ran. He ran where he could only run, he ran wherever was closest, yet he ran to possibly the worst place he could.

Chung found Noel standing at the front steps of the castle. He jolted up, eyes growing wide.

"Sir-Prince Chung!" Noel bowed.

"Get me a chariot." Chung demanded.

"I'm sorry, but there are plenty of matters that need seeing to-"Chung silenced Noel by putting up a damaged hand.

"Quiet. Just do as I say: I need a chariot. Now."

"Right, sir…" Noel dashed into the castle and Chung went into the courtyard. He had almost forgotten how it looked. Beautiful flowers sprung everywhere, with tens of statues all around. The trees grew as high as the moon, and Chung almost lay against one, almost snoozed off into the dream world-but no, reality was calling now.

A few seconds later a chariot pulled up. Chung hopped in and quickly ordered the driver,

"Go, quickly, to Stricken City's School of Defense Artillery." The driver obeyed immediately, as usual, asking no questions.

The ride back to the military camp was long, and Chung almost passed out several times. He was as tired as hell. Yet he can't rest now, he must be alert, he has to get away, back to the place where, ironically, he felt he belonged the most.

Finally the chariot stopped, and Chung flung the door open, wildly dashing towards the front doors of the building. All of the Blue Phase soldiers were gone with Jun, as well as the most of the staff, so all that was left were a few White Phase soldiers and Blue Phase soldiers. Chung sprinted into the barracks area, screaming as all the rage from the past 12 years came out into the form of a noise resonance. He kicked several pieces of debris lying around, sometimes injuring his foot, until he himself finally passed out, right there, at the same place where Valak had knocked him out months earlier.

XXX

"Miss Eve, we are required to bring you out of here immediately." The nurse said, taking hold of the back of Eve's bed, slowly moving it forward.

Eve raised an eyebrow, "Why? Is it because of that explosion?"

"Er-Yeah, you could say that. We just don't want to risk the whole building collapsing on all the patients and killing them…"The nurse chuckled nervously.

"Who cares, they're dead either way." Eve sighed.

"Pardon? Why would you say such a thing, Miss Eve? Our patients are-"

"They're bound to die, aren't they? Or at least, they were about to. That's why they are here, right?" The nurse remained quiet, only moving a little faster now.

Outside of the hospital, there were thousands of white beds, each filled with a disgustingly sick person. It was almost too gruesome to bear for Eve's eyes; seeing all these sick, diseased people all in one place, lined up next to each other…Eve suddenly felt frantic. What if these people's diseases passed onto _her?_ All of these people gathered in one place, there's sure to be someone who has something contagious. No doubt it would pass onto _someone_.

Eve lit up a bit when she saw Aisha come towards her. She had a sickly look on her face as she moved past all the patients. By the time she reached Eve, her face was completely pale. The nurse behind Eve's bed glared at Aisha, but said nothing.

"I'm sorry." Aisha bowed to the nurse, "I'll only be a second. Here, Eve." Aisha placed a crumpled piece of paper on Eve's lap, before she disappeared. Eve quickly unwrapped the paper, excited to see what it might hold. She expected it was bad news, but at least bad news was better than no news at all. Sitting in a bed all day certainly was _boring_.

Though it was hard to read because of the creases, Eve could only make it out;

_Chung is at Stricken City's School of Defense Artillery._

_Have a safe recovery._

XXX

Jun stalked Chung as he was lifted into the air by some invisible force, yet he still didn't do anything. He watched as Chung screamed, kicking the air frantically, and then he finally fell down. This _should have_ been when Jun finally stepped in, yet, he was too far away. Demons were already starting to swarm them, and Jun couldn't reach Chung in time.

However, Jun saw Chung go to the castle. He grit his teeth, dashing through the demons, ignoring the pained cries of his fellow soldiers. He arrived, wheezing and out of breath, at Noel's feet and the foot of the stairs leading up to the castle.

"Jun!" Noel smiled, yet it immediately faded. "You need to come in."

"I'm looking for Chung."Jun muttered.

"Chung left. Please, Jun, my friend, COME! Rena desperately needs you!" Noel pleaded. Jun sighed. When _was_ the last time he spoke to Rena? He quickly shook his head, forgetting those thoughts. It had been a long time. If this was the woman he married, he should at least see her _sometimes._

"Very well. But make it quick, I don't have time! Don't you see what's happening out there?!" Jun gestured behind him.

"Yes, I do, so you better come along." Noel led him through the castle, and Jun was surprised that Noel knew it better than himself. _Am I really away so long I don't know my own home? _Noel creaked a white door open, and found a messy, blonde, dirty woman sitting in the middle of the room. She was singing to a doll, and had wide, diluted pupils.

"Who's that?" Jun whispered.

"It's Rena!" Noel face palmed.

"What?!" Jun yelled. Rena's head snapped up, and she grew silent. She turned around, death in her gaze, staring at Jun.

"You…"She hissed. She quickly grabbed a knife from the top of her drawer, raising it threateningly. Jun backed up, his eyes wide.

"Rena…" Noel warned, stepping in front of Jun. "Remember what the doctor said-"

"DIE, BASTARD!" Rena screeched, hurling the knife at Noel. Before Jun could do anything, the knife hit Noel square on his heart.

_Yeah, she's always had good aim…_

Rena screamed, tumbling to the ground before immediately getting back up and dashing towards Jun and the now dead corpse of Noel. Yet Jun didn't move, not an inch. He couldn't save anyone, could he? Now, what kind of king is that?

XXX

Q-Proto hid among the various soldiers of both sides, concealed thanks to her Cloaking. She moved around the screaming soldiers, careful not to get hit.

Even through all these people, Q-Proto could see her. The petite blonde stood near a lamppost, worry evident in her blue eyes. Q-Proto approached, tapping her shoulder. Luriel jumped, catching her glasses as they fell off her face.

"You gave me quite a fright there, Proto." Luriel murmured.

"Yeah, well, you know what you have to do now." Luriel nodded. Q-Proto lifted Luriel with no difficulty, grabbing Luriel's arms as Q-Proto ascended in the air, gliding past the battle taking place below them. _Luriel will not be visible, because she's with me. They can't see her, or me_, Q-Proto giggled; a strange sound, indeed.

She could see the whole fight unfold, as Ran's army of demons stormed the area, eating any soldier who dared come by. She saw as Edan and a soldier of the king's clashed, the loud _cling_ of metal on metal vibrating through the air. Valak seemed to be enjoying himself, punching and clawing at everything. Several cages, made by Speka, of course, covered the area and Q-Proto could faintly hear maniacal laughter; no doubt it was Speka's.

She felt the child tremble, yet that didn't matter. What mattered was that this child died, that the plan succeeded, and that Q-Proto got her worth.

A sadistic smile, the only smile Proto ever produced, formed on her face as she flew closer to Edan. The soldier he was clashing against was out of breath, no doubt tired beyond Hell.

_Good_.

"Someday, I'll live forever." Luriel whispered, her voice trembling. Of course, only Q-Proto could hear. Nasods hear everything. Fortunately, soldiers of the king _do not_.

Proto released her grip on the child, and leisurely watched as the child landed on her feet, right in between Edan and the other soldier. Edan smirked and relaxed his posture a bit, watching with amusement as the king's soldier clumsily swung his sword thrice; across Luriel's stomach, across her chest, and finally, a stab right at her heart. The soldier's eyes grew wide as he realized what he had just done. Luriel turned pale, yet Q-Proto swore she saw a hint of a smile before Luriel collapsed, forever lying on the ground, lifeless. The soldier stepped back, hands trembling, as he suddenly bumped into Valak from behind. He turned around and shrieked when he saw the annoyed look on Valak's face. He raised his Nasod arm, quickly glanced at Luriel's motionless body, before he went all out.

Q-Proto was still in the air, an amused grin pasted on her face. Yet just when she was enjoying herself, a sharp pain spread throughout her back. No, her entire body. She stumbled on air, falling for the first time. She grit her teeth, pulling herself up as she frantically looked around, trying to find _what_ had hit her. Her back still burst with pain as powerful as Hell, yet she knew she must last through this. Already she could see Aisha placing decoy Luriels between every clash, recreating her own death.

Q-Proto's vision suddenly started to become blurry. Was she tired? Was she crying? Proto didn't know, the pain was just too much, she couldn't bear it, and she hated feeling something like _this_.

Then she stared up into the eyes of the pink haired Nasod, whom was once her master. Apple towered over Q-Proto, complete hatred and anger flaring in her deep, pink eyes. Proto cowered back. Her face stung. She didn't know why. There was this awful feeling, not just in her back, or her mind, but somewhere she didn't think even existed.

"I'll make you pay for what you did. I'll make you suffer seven hells! You never deserved life, but I won't steal it away from you _just yet_. We must all _learn_ from our mistakes, _I believe._" Apple sneered, with the voice of the Devil. Q-Proto was never as scared as she was now. So much pain, so much trembling, and the unknown place hurt way more than anything else could.

_Kill me now._

* * *

**(1)- I just had to do this. I had to.**

**(2)-This part was..Especially hard to write, derp.**

**A/N: (I had to edit most of this myself, without Kayuki, due to...Events ._.) Oh my gawd! I'm sorry if this is not what you people were expecting. Not that action, huh? Well, I poured my heart and soul onto this chapter, and I believe it came out quite well. A bit serious and maybe even a bit more emotional than needed to be, but who cares? I think it's good. And if you don't, well…That makes me sad ):**

**This was actually a lot harder to write than I thought it be…**

**Anyway, please tell us what you think! **

**Question of the Chapter: Eh...Kayuki isn't here...Oh derp, this is a pretty bad and lame question, but Why Do You Think Anyone Would Join Up With Raven? What Could He Possibly Offer?**

******R&R!**


	12. Chapter 12

***facepalm**

**No. No. Just no, KoG. Just no. Helputt. NOOOOOOOOO. After all this time...*shakes head* just no. I'm not sure when the Temple of the Trials popped up, but I'm pretty sure it was after we started the Runaways because if it popped up before the Runaways, I would've noticed because I basically clung onto the Hamel wiki page like a leech when I was typing about the Halls of Water.**

***repeatedly smacks head against wall* Just. No. His name should've been Jun.**

**We're going to continue using 'Jun' as Chung's father's name, so, if we have any 'new' readers, don't rage at us saying Chung's father's name isn't Jun. WE KNOW, IT'S FRICKING HELPUTT. GAH! *rips hair out***

**Okay, I finished my rant.**

* * *

**Okay, so, thank you everybody who reviewed the previous chapter. And I just realized we never told you guys what the keys were for. Remember how Luriel was supposed to shut down all trades or something, well, the keys were for the bank things so no one could do anything. idk, it was Zenya's idea.**

**So, yeah. Here's chapter 12...**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

Eve crumpled the note in her hands. She tore the tubes attached to her arms off.

"Eve, where are you going," Aisha called, grabbing her uninjured arm.

"Let me go, Aisha," Eve muttered, trying to pull her arm free from Aisha's grasp, but Aisha's grasp only further tightened.

"No, not until you tell me where you're going," Aisha said rather forcefully.

"I said, _let me go_!" Eve shouted, surprising Aisha enough for her to lose her grip on Eve's arm. Eve yanked her arm back and ran out of the hospital barefoot. She didn't care that she didn't have any shoes on at the moment, she didn't care that the rocks and pebbles were making her feet bleed, she only cared about getting to Chung. She couldn't tell if she was more happy or angry.

_That jerk left me without telling me anything! And in the note he said he was 'far away'. Far away my ass! He's only in Stricken City!_

_ **Chung! Chung! Chung! My Chung's finally back! I knew he'd come back for me! I knew it! I knew it all along!**_

Eve banged on the front door of her home. Her mother opened the door. Ara was surprised, upon seeing her daughter. What surprised her even more was the furious look pasted on her face – she has never seen Eve so angry.

Eve brushed past her mother and ran up the stairs to her room. Eve randomly pulled out a dress from her closet. She quickly changed from the hospital gown to the black and white dress (1) she had pulled out. Eve headed to her shelf, started up Moby and Remy, and ran down the stairs, jamming her feet in the first pair of shoes she saw. She left her mother without a word.

XXX

Eve sprinted up the marble stair case to the castle. She banged on the castle doors, yelling.

"Open up! I have something important for Queen Rena!" Eve shouted at the top of her lungs. Her hand hurt and it was sore, but Eve continued hammering on the door. "Open up!"

Eve could hear faint footsteps as someone approached the door. The door opened up, revealing Helen at the front door. Eve muttered a quick, "Thanks," before she walked past Helen and ran up the stairs.

Eve saw the gold and white double doors of Rena and Jun's master room left slightly ajar. Eve quietly crept towards the agape door and peeked inside. The room was dark. Hardly any light was entering the room through the barely opened curtains. There were strange spots of red, splattered upon the walls. Straight ahead was a blonde woman sitting with her back to the door, stroking a doll's head while humming a song every mother in Hamel sang to their children.

When Eve stepped in, the woman's head perked up and turned towards Eve. Her bright green eyes were diluted and were piercing into her soul. Her grip on the doll tightened.

"You…you're here to take him away again…aren't you?" She muttered. Eve shook her head while taking a hesitant step forward but instantly staggered back, petrified.

"Lies," Her raspy voice snarled. She had no idea who this woman was, but it wasn't the woman that scared her. It was the dead corpse of the young white haired man on the ground. Blood was still seeping out of his wound, so he must've been killed not too long ago. Eve wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to run, but she was frozen on the spot.

The woman's diluted green eyes never left Eve.

"I won't let you take him away from me," She growled in a low voice. Her voice sounded familiar, but her voice was too raspy for Eve to decipher.

"T-take who," Eve asked. The woman bared her teeth and in a flash, Eve was pinned to the wall with a kitchen knife. There was dried blood on the blade. _S-she…she killed…N-Noel…_ Eve realized as her eyes widened. Eve tried to pull the knife out from her dress sleeve, but before she could, the woman sent another knife flying at her – this time at her face.

Eve didn't even have the time to react. On instinct, she clamped her eyes shut and waited for the painful feeling of a blade penetrating her skull, but it never came. Eve's eyes slowly opened.

"You!" The woman roared. "You two are here to take him away!" She shouted, placing a protective arm in front of the doll. "But guess what! I'm not going to let you! I'll kill you both in this very room!" She let out an insane cackle of laughter. Eve quickly took the moment to yank the knife out of sleeve of her dress.

"You okay, Eve?" Eve looked up and realized the person who had saved her was none other than the king of Hamel. Eve silently nodded. Eve saw the blade he had caught. The hilt had intricate designs made of gold. The blade was thin and the metal reflected the dim light from the sun.

Eve narrowed her eyes, struggling to see what the doll looked like. The blade from her hand clanked against the marble floor and a gasp escaped Eve's lips. It was a doll of Chung.

XXX

_They're too easy to kill, when's my 'nephew' going to show up and stop being a coward? _Raven thought as he easily unarmed the short brown haired boy before him. Raven decided to show mercy and let him not see his death completely. He knocked the boy's glasses off of his face with the tip of his sword and as the boy scoured the dirt floors, feeling the ground for his lost glasses, Raven's blade pierced the boy's heart.

The boy's body instantly collapsed to the ground. Raven chuckled darkly. _Too easy._ In the distance, Raven could see his brother fighting off Ran, Camilla and a small group of demons. Seeing Jun struggle to live made a question pop up into his head – _Why was he fighting so hard to survive other than the fact that he's king and has a wife and so- _A devious grin graced his lips. He had been the key all along. How had he not seen it?

A soldier bumped into Raven after a demon's deformed arm punctured his stomach. Raven's grin didn't falter. In fact, it only got bigger as he stabbed the soldier without turning around.

_Maybe I could make use of his values. _Raven thought as he weaved through the sea of soldiers and demons clashing, killing everyone in his way.

XXX

He couldn't believe it. Had Apple saved him just so she could kill him afterwards? Did she want him to be in debt towards her? Why did she save him exactly!

_"Go ahead!" Apple had yelled. "I just can't believe you're here, helping them."_

Apple had saved him back at the dorms just to let Q-Proto drop him to his death. Wouldn't it just have been easier to let him die at the dorms? Chung shook his head. But Apple was the least of his worries right now, there was a war going on and he wasn't doing anything. _But what could I do? _Chung thought, while laughing bitterly. _I'd only get in the way._

Chung stood up from the piece of rubble he was sitting on. In the distance, Chung could see bombs detonate, swords clash, soldiers fall and he could hear the cries of agony. He hated himself for letting all this just happen.

_I guess I need friends more than I thought. _Chung sighed. He ran off in a random direction; he couldn't bear to see all this bloodshed.

XXX

Ironically, his feet brought him to the last place he wanted to be – the castle. Chung let out an exasperated sigh. He might as well see his mother before running off again.

As Chung climbed the stairs, he could hear noises, but he was too far to say what the noises were exactly. He strained his ears to hear. As he neared the top of the stairs, he began to hear faint screams and the clashing of metal to metal.

Chung's feet automatically sprinted up the stairs. He ran towards the source of the sound and it brought him to the opened double doors of his parents' room. The doors that were once white were now covered with splashes of dried blood.

He could hear the screams of his mother's voice from the room and the yells of another voice – _Father_, Chung thought. As Chung reached the doors, a different person that was neither his mother nor father (1) screamed, echoing in Chung's ears and then a knife came flying his way. It whistled by his face, leaving a small cut which blood dribbled out of, and it dug itself into the wall behind Chung on the other side of the hall.

Chung was wide-eyed. Not because he had barely escaped death, but that his _mother_ had been the one to throw the blade. And at his _father_ at that fact – or at least she had tried to. Chung could see his mother's enraged eyes drift towards him. Her ragged breathing slowed down and she lowered her arm, her eyes softening.

"Ch…Chung?" She murmured, as tears welled-up in her eyes. "I-is that you?" Chung didn't reply. He only stood, mouth agape, staring at his mother, refusing to believe the scene before him. His father slowly turned around.

"Chung!" Rena exclaimed, pushing Jun aside and pulling Chung into a hug. "I'm so glad you're alright," Chung didn't hug his mother back. His wide turquoise eyes drifted around the room.

There were two knives on Rena's make-up table. The drawers of the table were hanging open; a few were even on the ground, revealing several knives and daggers. On the walls were removable long-swords on plaques and one-handed flails hung from the chandelier in the room.

Blood decorated the weapons and walls, and especially the marble floor – one spot on the floor in particular. The blood seeped through the man's clothing. His white hair was in his face, but Chung knew exactly who he was. After all, it's kind of hard to forget the man that was more of a father to you than your actual father.

"…Noel…" Chung whispered as tears rolled down his cheeks.

XXX

Helen trembled in the corner of her masters' room. She knew Rena was mentally unstable, but didn't know she was _this_ mentally unstable since she sent other maids to check up on her instead of checking up on her herself.

The Queen had thrown a long-sword at her just because she came into check up on her. Fortunately, Rena had missed for she was too distracted with being angry at her husband, but Rena had only missed by a few millimetres.

She watched in the corner as the Queen pulled her son into a hug, breaking out into a sobbing mess. Helen slowly stood up and inched around the Queen and the Prince to escape the bloodstained room, but no one seemed to notice her leave.

When Helen returned to her chambers, she let out a sigh of relief. Helen's hands shook and her knees gave out beneath her. She was never going back into the Queen and King's chambers again. She feared for her life.

That scream…Helen hadn't ever screamed like that. Not with that much fear. Helen stared at her now gore-covered hands from accidentally brushing her hands in a puddle of blood on the floor. She took a shaky breath and tried to erase the image of her deceased friend.

XXX

Eve's heart hammered against her rib cage. Her finger nails dug into her clammy palms. She sat at the back of the carriage, nervously waiting to arrive at Stricken City's School of Defense Artillery.

_Would Chung be there? Or did he leave? Will he look any different? Will he be taller than me now? Am _I _any different? What'll he think of me after we've been separated for over half a year? Will he even remember me? Did he replace me? _That last question hurt Eve the most, but Eve knew there was a high chance she got replaced. She could only wish she didn't get replaced.

XXX

Elsword tugged at the girlie, uncomfortable dress. _Why couldn't there have been a guy on the carriage?_ Elsword grumbled mentally. Elesis slapped his hand away from his dress.

"Stop tugging at it or else your actual clothes will show," Elesis hissed.

"But it's uncomfortable," Elsword complained. "You wouldn't know what it's like since you're an actual girl and you're 'okay' with this. You have no idea how _awkward_ it is for me – a guy – to be walking around in women's clothing."

"Are your done rant, because I want to get some sleeping in before morning comes," Elesis said without opening her eyes. Elsword groaned when he heard his sister's soft breathing, signalling she's asleep.

Elsword hugged the warm loaf of bread. The scent of fresh food made his stomach growl. Elsword sighed. No matter how hungry he got, he couldn't eat until morning or else Elesis would be pissed off at him and she probably wouldn't let him eat for the next few days as well. With that, Elsword shut his eyes and let himself get carried to the land of dreams. _Whatever I do; don't dream of food._

* * *

_It was a simple morning. It was just like every other day. Elsword and Elesis were happily listening to their father tell them stories of their mother._

_ "Hey, daddy, what was mama like?" A young Elesis asked their father, her ruby eyes full of curiosity. _

_ "Yeah, yeah, tell us, daddy!" Elsword added. Their father chuckled._

_ "Alright, alright," He said. "Well, your mother was a wonderful woman. She was beautiful, gentle and caring. She also had quite a voice. Elesis bears almost an uncanny resemblance to her." Suddenly, the stillness of the bright, tiny room was shattered. The front door was kicked down and a group of men in black gear flooded into the room, preparing their weapons._

_ Elesis glared at the men, knowing they were working for the dictator. Their father calmly stood up and walked towards the men with his hands in the air. A man in a white suit and a thin moustache walked in the door with his demonic pet, Grim the bone gargoyle. Grim let out a mere breath and all their food for the next month was scorched and reduced to nothing but a pile of ashes._

_ "Hey!" Their father shouted, stepping forward. "What was that for?! That was my family's food for the next month!" The dictator just 'tsked', waving his index finger. The dictator sent his men against their father, attacking mercilessly._

_ Elsword grit his teeth and clenched his fists. He wasn't going to stand by and just watch the dictator attack his father. Elsword let out a cry, charging at the man in the white suit._

_ The dictator foresaw Elsword's move and released Grim against Elsword, tackling Elsword to the ground, slamming his head against the corner of the table._

_ "Elsword!" Elesis shrieked, rushing to her brother's side. "Are you alright?" Elesis asked, cradling his head. Elsword wasn't too sure of what happened next, but their father was being dragged out the door by the dictator's men and Elesis was yelling something, but Elsword couldn't hear. He got pulled further and further into the darkness and then…_

* * *

He jolted awake. Elsword's red hair was pasted to his forehead and his breathing was rapid. He could see the sun peeking out from behind the horizon. He shifted his position and stretched. Elsword tore off a chunk of the loaf of bread to eat and used the rest to wake Elesis up. He whacked her with the bread a couple times before her eyes snapped open.

"Don't hit people with food, Elsword," Elesis scolded, ripping the bread away from Elsword and tearing off a chunk for herself. "Food is top shit in our world," Elsword rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, our weapons should be ready, let's go," Elsword said, hopping down from his tree branch. He smoothed out the creases and wrinkles on his violet dress. He ran his fingers through his hair just to make his hair look neater. Elesis jumped down and landed next to Elsword, whilst tying her hair up in a messy bun. Elsword and Elesis began walking down the dirt path that led into Dicey Sky Road.

When they arrived at the shop, Elsword could see the lizard man working busily. The duo stopped in front of the counter. Elsword could see him crushing two attribute stones. He gathered the dust of one of the crushed attribute stones and let it fall over the sword that appeared to be like a Claymore. Then he took the dust of the other attribute stone and tossed it over the other sword.

Chacha Buch was about to set the two blades aside to wait for their owners, but to his surprise, when he turned around the two red haired women were already there.

"Hello, madams," He greeted kindly.

"Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, hello to you too," The short haired woman said, extending her hand. "Now give us our swords," Chacha Buch handed the short-tempered lady her Great Sword. The other woman didn't speak; she simply extended her hand for her Claymore, wanting her sword back.

When the woman extended her hand, Chacha Buch noticed on the back of her fingerless glove, there was a rune. It seemed rather…familiar. Chacha Buch took the woman's hand and flipped it over. The woman quickly flipped her palm back over, drawing her hand back and extending her left hand instead.

Chacha Buch stared at the two women. He has definitely seen the two before; it's on the tip of his tongue, but he can't remember. The short haired woman must've caught him observing.

"What!" She snapped. Chacha Buch shook his head.

"Nothing," He replied.

"Then stop staring!" She retorted. "It's freaking me out," She muttered under her breath. Chacha Buch chuckled, but his joyful mood didn't last long, for he remembered where he had seen these two women – on the most wanted and beware posters all over town.

* * *

**(1) - It's Code: Exotic's dress.**

**(2) - I bet you thought it was Eve~**

**Elesis takes her food very seriously. So. Don't take her bread. Unless you want to starve for the next few days.**

**OH GAWSH! We are such trolls. I was actually originally going to make Eve and Chung meet up in this chapter, but when I called Zenya, she said, "NO! THEIR MEETING NEEDS TO BE DRAMATIC AND AWESOME!" So, they didn't meet ._.**

**Anyway, I apologize for it being so short. I always feel like I'm typing up a shit-storm and then I highlight everything and I see in the bottom left corner: 1, 725 words. FUUUUU- *flips table**

**Anyhow, R&R please!**

**And Eve's bipolar. /slapped**

**-Kayuki**

***Question of the Chapter: On a scale of 1 to 10, how seriously do you take your food?**

**(ex: do you have a really high value for your food and can't live without it or it's just food to you)**


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